Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Bwari Area Council branch in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), yesterday, made good its threat to ground all activities at the council secretariat by barricading the entrance gate.
Led by their Chairman, Emmanuel Ishaku, the workers barricaded the council secretariat with their vehicles while addressing the gathering on their grievances.
The workers, with placards bearing inscriptions such as ‘What is our offence? Pay us our 35 per cent wage award’, ‘FCT chairmen, key into the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr. President’, ‘A hungry man is an angry man’ and ‘Injury to one is an injury to all’, they vowed not to surrender until their demands are met.
Other placards read, ‘You cannot achieve any community project or development without the staff’, ‘Wike is the answer’, ‘We say No to ALGON FCT’, ‘ALGON FCT put your house in order’, ‘40 per cent peculiar allowance, new CONHESS/CONMESS, a right not a privilege’.
According to them, the allocation to the area council is more than enough to implement all their entitlements. They accused the chairmen of trying to rubbish the good intentions of the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, for the city.
They reminded the chairmen that public servants are master planners, as nothing can be achieved without them.
FCT NULGE had written to Wike, raising issues on the non-implementation of their 40 per cent allowance, pension deductions, statutory deductions and other rights and privileges.
The letter, made available to The Guardian, was signed by the President of FCT NULGE, Ibrahim Kabi, and the Secretary, Bridget Ayendi.
It reads: “The SEC-in session after exhaustive deliberations on lingering issues as regards the non-implementation of 40 per cent peculiar allowance, pension deduction, hazard arrears, cooperative deduction, 25 per cent adjusted CONMESS/CONHESS, resolved that a seven-day ultimatum be issued to area council chairmen from January 3 to 11, 2024 to maintain existing industrial peace and harmony.
“That if after the ultimatum and our demands are not met, then the union would have no option than to shut down activities in all the area councils and LEA on Friday, January 12, 2024 until our demands are met.”
At the time of filing this report, all the primary and secondary schools under the council were under lock and key, as students were forced to return home.
