From Gyang Bere, Jos
The Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), Plateau State has urged the 17 Local Government Chairmen in the state to shoulder the responsibility of paying its workforce the new minimum wage.
Chairman of ALGON, Hon. Ezekiel Vulgap disclosed this on Wednesday after an enduring meeting between ALGON and Nigeria Union of Local Government Employee NULGE, held at the old Government House Jos.
He expressed regret that workers salaries at the local government level has not been paid in the last three months and urged council chairmen to find a way of upsetting the unpaid salaries.
“You are all aware that ALGON and workers union on the Plateau have agreed on the implementation of the N30,000 minimum wage and we have commenced the implementation since the agreement was signed.
“To this end, you are all aware that to the month of January, February and March salaries are yet to be paid to workers and this is not deliberate, it is because of the challenges of inflow we are receiving.”
He explained that local government areas in the state depend solidly on the revenue from the federal allocation and that what they generate is very insignificant.
Vulgap noted that the deliance on the payment of salaries was informed by the fact that what is coming in from the federation account can’t pay the staff salaries as of when due.
“We have peculiarities, there are local government that will be able to pay and that can only happen when they collapse their vats.There are some that even after collapsing their vat, the cannot still pay.
“This is the reason why we held this meeting and in our resolution, talking about the challenges and peculiarities, it was resolved that every local government should handle the payment of it salary with the union there.
“We want citizens to know that whatever problem local government have with workers, they should be able to handle it locally within their respective local government areas.”
Hon. Vulgap encouraged his colleagues to be more proactive, committed and remain diligence in their responsibility to avert any tension and friction between the local authorities and public workers.
