About 100 workers of Bali local government council, Taraba State, have cried out over the failure of the local government authorities to pay them salaries for four months.

The workers, in an open letter addressed to the state governor, Agbu Kefas, and the Permanent Secretary, Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, urged them to compel the council chairman, Aboki Dauda, to pay them the owed salaries immediately.

They accused the local government boss of withholding the salaries without justification, stating that they had been on the payroll of the local government for years.

They said the situation has put them in serious hardship.

The unjust treatment meted on us is unimaginable; we are passing through thorough hardship, coupled with the national economic problems and the one initiated by our local government council; it has not been easy for the past four months; our children can’t return to their schools anymore, we can’t attend to medication nor eat food.

“In our collective resolve, we are requesting for the payment of our long overdue arrears.

“We make this solemn ‘Save Our Souls’ plea in utmost regard for your highly esteemed office and earnestly seek your speedy intervention in alleviating our plight within the shortest possible frame,” they pleaded.

The chairman of the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) in the local government area, Abdulmumuni Isa, also confirmed the non-payment of the staff since January while speaking with journalists in Jalingo.

The NULGE chairman said it started after the local government council did a staff audit and verification in December.

The situation led to removal of some of the staff names from the bureau. As a result, it affected some of the genuine workers of the local government,” Mr Isa said

The chairman of the local government, Mr Dauda, refused to comment on the development when contacted on the phone..

Source: Vanguard Newspaper