The National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) has commended Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State for payment of salaries to local government workers in the state.
NULGE National President, Mr. Ibrahim Kheel, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja yesterday, said while states like Bayelsa where owing local government workers about 10-16 months salaries in the state, with Kogi owing 15 months and Delta 8-14 months respectively, Cross River has remained steadfast in its payment of local government workers.
Ibrahim went on to enumerate other states owing salaries as follows : Kaduna 12 months, Oyo 3-11 months, Edo 10 months, Abia 5-9 months, Kwara 2-9 months, Benue nine months and Nasarrawa seven months.
According to him, other states owing Local Government staff are: Ondo and Ekiti states 6 months each, Zamfara not implementing minimum wage, Adamawa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom Ebony, Plateau owing four months each, Taraba and FCT Abuja three months each while Osun has been paying half salaries for 24 months.
The union noted that Ekiti has refused to remit union dues for the past nine months and Ogun has not also remitted its deduction for seven months.
The NULGE President further disclosed that only 700 workers were owed between one to three months in Cross River State and that this had to do with technical hitches during staff verification exercise.
“It is based on the above I want to say that Governor Ben Ayade’s government is actually working compared to the aforementioned 23 states. Cross River State is the state with the least owed local government employees.â€
“Out of thousands of local government employees, only about 700 are owed between one to three months salaries. Please I think Ayade deserves a hand clap,†Ibrahim concluded.
