BENIN CITY – Comrade Clifford Daudu, the newly elected President of the Edo State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), has threatened an industrial action across the 18 local government areas of Edo State if salary arrears and statutory deductions for workers are not paid by the end of October.
Daudu urged all local government chairmen to promptly address the issue by paying the overdue salaries and unremitted deductions without further delay. In an interview with journalists in Benin City, he highlighted that local government workers in Edo State have not received salaries dating back to 2017, causing significant hardship.
He criticized the councils’ management for failing to remit statutory deductions, amounting to several millions of naira. Daudu noted that NULGE had sent multiple letters to the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) and held meetings, where it was agreed that arrears would begin to be settled from June 2024. However, he expressed frustration that as of October 2024, the councils have not honored this agreement despite numerous reminders.
“With increased allocations from the federation account and improved internally generated revenue (IGR), it is unacceptable that these arrears remain unpaid,” he said. Daudu warned that the union would mobilize its members for a complete shutdown of the councils if their demands are not met by the end of October.