Edo council workers receive salary arrears, Benue counterparts protest against non-payment of 70 months wage

Local council workers in Edo State were yesterday paid their outstanding salaries.

The Guardian learnt that workers in Oredo local council received eight months arrears, while their counterparts in Egor and other councils were paid six months.

Government sources disclosed that the Paris Club refunds to the states were used to facilitate the payments.

Some of the workers who spoke with our correspondent commended the good gesture of Governor Godwin Obaseki, adding that the payment would enable them to meet their obligations.

They described the governor’s action as a commitment to good governance.

Also yesterday, Obaseki tasked journalists on professionalism, fairness and objectivity as they cover his activities.

He stated this when the executive members of the Radio, Television, Theatre and Arts Workers Union of Nigeria (RATTAWU) visited him at the Government House in Benin City.

He commended them for creating awareness and building confidence in his administration’s quest to reduce the level of poverty through job creation, infrastructure and human capacity development.

However, in Benue State, hundreds of pensioners yesterday staged a protest to the Government House, Makurdi, demanding the payment of their outstanding salaries.

According to the workers, the state government owed them between 24 and 70 months.

The workers, who carried various placards, lamented that the non-payment of their salaries had worsened their living conditions

Some of the placards read: “Samuel Ortom, pay us our pensions,” “Local government pensioners deserve their pension arrears,” “Ortom, merge us with old pensioners in the bureau for local government,” “We are dying, no money to buy drugs and pay our children’s school fees.”

The Chairman of the Coalition of Local Government Retirees, Michael Vembe told the governor, who was represented by his deputy, Benson Abounu, that some of the pensioners now sleep in uncompleted buildings and roads sides due to the non-payment.

He appealed to them to be patient with government, promising that it would act fast to alleviate their sufferings.