Special Correspondent, TITUS OISE, writes on controversies surrounding Edo State local governments’ funds in the face of unpaid salaries to the council workers.
Ever since the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State accused Governor Adams Oshiomhole of frittering away over N200 billion being allocation belonging to the 18 local government councils in the state, there have been accusations and counter-accusations from the two parties.
Trouble started when the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) in the state embarked on sustained protest and strike over unpaid salaries of over five months across the local government councils in the state. The aggrieved council workers have since vowed to continue with the protest and strike until all their outstanding salaries are paid.
PDP Chairman in the State, Dan Orbih, had, in a recent press conference, alleged that Oshiomhole mismanaged over N200 billion council funds.
“I want to say very clearly that Edo PDP will like to sympathise with the staff and families of Edo state local government workers who have received undeserved humiliation and treatment from the government of Adams Oshiomhole. The interesting thing about this is that it is indeed scandalous that as from the time he (Oshiomhole) took over the reins of government in Edo State till date, he has received over N200 billion as allocation to different local governments in Edo State. Of this amount, he needs N6.5 billion annually for workers’ salaries. So for about seven years of his government, you can say out of over N200 billion, he needed about N45.5 billion to service workers,” Orbih alleged.
The party also took a swipe at the governor for embarking on what its chairman described as “frivolous” foreign trips which failed to attract a single investment to the state. “Now, the question is, what has he done with this money? Today, he (Oshiomhole) cannot pay workers’ salaries and he has received well over N200 billion from the federation account for local governments, but here we are today.”
In a swift reaction to the allegation, the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Governor, Kassim Afegbua, stated that Orbih lacked the nuances of government and should restrain himself to the hollowness that characterised the PDP-led government in the state and at the federal level under Goodluck Jonathan.
According to Afegbua, “There is nothing like squandering local government funds. We don’t even touch their funds. How do you reconcile that N200 billion has been appropriated to the state and the comrade governor had misappropriated it. It flies in the face of reason and commonsense. He should take a bit of pain to do due diligence and see for himself whether the sum of N200 billion did even accrue to the 18 local governments in the state, before running from pillar to post to make this kind of wild allegation.”
On Tuesday, June 16, the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Edo State chapter, traced the inability of councils in the state to pay salaries of their workers to the alleged mismanagement of the economy by the immediate past PDP-led federal government and not the administration of Oshiomhole.
In a crowded press conference, the 18 local government chairmen in the state led by Mrs. Itohan Osahon-Ogbeide (chairman) and Mrs. Lucy Omagbon (legal adviser) insisted that the governor never tampered with council funds, while blaming it on the dwindling allocations from the federation account.
According to the ALGON chairman, “Those local government council workers who are protesting in Edo State are doing so because we have been paying teachers. So their anger was that why should we be paying teachers and they are not receiving their own. Teachers’ salaries take the chunk of the allocation which are no longer coming as it used to.”
Osahon-Ogbeide added that, “Orbih is playing to the gallery. This problem started with his PDP administration, and rather than hide his face in shame, he chooses to tell lies in the name of politics.”
But in a curious twist, the state’s executive council of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), at the end of its meeting on Thursday, June 18, urged the state government to clear the backlog of salaries of council workers or face a trade dispute.
The Congress had in a statement jointly signed by the Chairman, Emma Ademokun, and Acting Secretary, Bashir Kadiri, stated: “We therefore call on the state government and local government administration, as a matter of urgent public interest, to pay the salaries owed within two weeks of this release without which Congress may be forced to declare a trade dispute.”
