…LG Commission Now Oversees Local Councils
By Wole Adedeji, Ilorin
The Kwara State chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has lauded the state governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, for approving the promotion arrears for local government workers in the state.
The governor had recently approved the promotion of council workers, particularly primary school teachers, who had been denied the gesture since 2017 to 2020 by the immediate past regime.
The NLC, who said the decision was long awaited, promising that the gesture would be reciprocated by the labour unions in the state, also appreciated the governor for allowing the local councils to run independent of the state government, asserting that the Local Government Service Commission, LGSC, is now fully in charge of the councils.
The leadership of the Kwara NLC said that workers in the 16 local governments areas, who are from the workers’ unions in the local council areas, “wish to express our undiluted and most sincere appreciation to the governor’s benevolence and kind hearted gesture towards the approval of their long awaited and cumulated promotion exercise from 2019 to 2021 for them at the grassroot level.
This was expressed in a joint appreciation letter, written to the governor at the weekend, under the aegis of the NLC.
The unions under the NLC are made up of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria, MHWUN, National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, NANNM as well as the Non-Academic Staff Union, NASU, in the State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB.
Their letter was jointly signed by the the state NLC Chairman, Comrade Aliyu Issa Ore; state President of NULGE, Oyinlade Adeleye; state Chairman of the MHWUN, Muritala Olayinka; and state chairman of NANNM, Aminu Shehu.
They said that to “whom much is given, much is expected,” and promised that as labour leaders, they would do all the needful to ensure that their members reciprocate the kind gesture with more dedication to duties and “continue to be loyal and support this administration.”
The letter further added, “Your Excellency, our appreciation will be inconclusive, if we fail to appreciate you for allowing the Local Government Service Commission to take full charge of local government system in Kwara State. We say a big thank you, Sir.
“Your Excellency, we the labour leaders also wish to use this medium to further acknowledge and appreciate the giant strides of your administration in its mission to rebuild Kwara State in the area of infrastructural development, especially as it concerns general road network in all the senatorial districts of Kwara State.
“Like Oliver Twist, Your Excellency, we equally wish to use this medium to passionately appeal and request for your kind approval of the following, which we believe will not only be a motivation for all the workforce at the third tier of government, but would also lift their standard of living, considering the economic position of the country: financial implementation of the 2018 promotion exercise; payment of salary arrears; decentralisation of payment of staff salary; payment of 10 per cent approved Consolidated Health Salary Structure, CONHESS for health staff in the 16 local government areas.”
This they said, was being implemented for the state health workers since the year 2018 and asked for express approval for the Minimum Wage Committee to conclude negotiations on minimum wage.
