Aba council workers remain on strike

The workers of Aba North and Aba South Local Government Areas of Abia state, eastern Nigeria, have remained at home after the expiration of their seven-day warning strike.

The workers embarked on the warning strike on 16 July to demand the payment of their May and June salaries.

A NAN correspondent, who visited the two local government secretariats in Aba on Wednesday, reports that their premises were under lock and key.

Mr Ugochukwu Emezue, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, said government would resolve the existing problem to enable the workers to receive their salaries as at when due.

He said that Governor Theodore Orji had set up a committee headed by the Chief of Staff, Chief Cosmas Ndukwe, to review the biometric data system and remove obstacles to ensure prompt payment of the workers’ salaries.

Emezue, however, said that the government should not be completely blamed for the delay as some council officials had not adhered to directives geared toward the success of the exercise.

He said that only six councils were affected by the exercise, adding that the government had been working hard to resolve the issue facing the workers of those councils.

He appealed to the workers to exercise patience to enable government to serve them better.

The state Chairman of NULGE, Mr Eze Idima, said the union would embark on a full blown strike if the salaries were not paid after the warning strike.

In his reaction, Chief Emma Nwabuko, the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, blamed the salary delay on the harmonisation of the biometric data lists of the affected councils.