The Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) said on Monday that 22 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have failed to pay local government staff salaries for a period ranging between one and 16 months.
The union, however, said 14 states including Lagos, Ogun, Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Sokoto, Kebbi, Bauchi, Borno, Yobe, Gombe, Cross River, Niger and Anambra were up to day in the payment of local government workers’ entitlement.
In a statement made available to journalists in Abuja, NULGE asked governors of the affected states to offset the salaries and other allowances of local government workers with the second tranche of the Paris Club loan refund released to them, warning that it will be forced to shut down all local government councils in the country if the state governments fail to pay the entitlements.
The National President of the union, Ibrahim Khaleel, warned state governors not to divert or tamper with the second tranche of Paris Club loan refund but use it to offset the entitlement of workers.
A computation by NULGE revealed that Bayelsa State leads in indebtedness chart by owing up to 16 months workers’ salaries, followed by Kogi (15), Delta (14), Kaduna (12), Oyo (11) and Edo (10).
