Warri: Protesters drawn from Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, (NULGE), Delta State Chapter on recently staged a peaceful protest which shut down activities in the oil city of Warri and Effurun.
The protest started around 8:30am at the Uvwie local government council secretariat, Effurun, from where the demonstrators went round major roads, down to the Effurun roundabout and moving to main streets of Warri, Delta State.
Major activities in the two cities were brought to stand still as business owners and offices closed for the day either in solidarity with the protesters or probably to prevent vandals from disrupting their businesses.
The protesters who chanted anti-government slogan, bore leaves and placards to press home their messages.
Some placards with different inscriptions bore by the protesters read, “Stop The Killing Of Council Workers”, “Pay Us Our 13 Months Salaries”, “Stop Stealing Local Government Fund” and “No Salary, No Okowa 2019” among others.
The slogans apparently stemmed from the controversy surrounding the failure of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State to use the Paris Club Refund released to states by the President Mohammadu Buhari-led administration to offset backlog of salaries owed the council workers.
“Can you imagine that in 13 months now council workers have not been paid, yet Okowa has the guts to be hosting town hall meetings…Okowa is a bad governor and he should be ready for us in 2019,” one of the protesters complained bitterly.
Report alleged that some of Council Chairmen were pressurized to sign a document indicating that a large part of the Paris Club Refund money had been released to them to pay workers in their respective local government areas.
“Some weeks back, the governor invited all the twenty-five local government areas chairmen to his office for a meeting. To our greatest surprise, the governor asked us to sign a document that he gave us money from the Paris Club Refund which we the council chairmen used to pay five months salaries arrears from the 8-13 months owed council workers,” one of the council chairmen who pleaded anonymity alleged.
“There is a conspiracy theory about the Paris Club refunds money in Delta State”, another council chairman from Delta North senatorial district of the state, alleged, stressing that the money must have been diverted and they have been trying to cover it up.
Continuing he alleged, “The meeting the Governor summoned when the money was released did not end well. We vehemently refused to sign the document showing how they expended the money because we did not know how it was spent, so why should we sign? All we got was money that could pay only a month salary.”
