Comrade Adabayo Titilayo-Sodo is the President of the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Oyo State Chapter. In this interview with RAJI ADEBAYO in Ibadan, he speaks on the reason why local government should be giving autonomy, deduct local government workers salary from the source before sharing the allocation and other issues affecting grassroots development.
What is the salary situation in Oyo state?
The payment is not the same across all the 33 local governments and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs). And that is why we have been appealing to the state government the need to remove the salaries of local governments workers before disbursing the allocations. On the level of salary payment, the worst local government which is Egbeda is owing 10 months, followed by Ibadan North West. A few such as Oriire, Ibarapa Central, Saki West, Iwajowa, Atiba, Iseyin and ATISBO are up to date with the rest owing between one to six months. However two month allocation (September and October) is yet to be distributed to local governments while the Paris club fund is yet to be fully dispensed.
How do you think the irregular payment of local government workers salaries in Oyo state can be nip in the bud?
The only solution to the lingering crisis of unpaid salaries of local government workers in Oyo state lies in the hands of the state government. The local governments do not collect the same allocation. That is the reason why we are requesting from the state government that they should please be deducting local government workers’ salaries from the source before disbursing the rest. But sadly, up till this moment, the state government has not granted our request.
Why are you requesting that the State government should deduct local government workers salaries from the source before disbursement, what is the advantage?
We have some local government areas with 500 members of staff, while some have between 200 and 250 staff. This means that the monthly wage bill of those with 500 staff is higher than those of 200 staff, so if the one with 500 staff is given N50 million allocation and the one with 200 is given the same amount, you know that while the first one will find it difficult to pay its workers salaries as and when due, the second one will have enough money to pay. That is the reason why we are saying that the proper thing to do, because all these workers are serving under the state local government service commission being controlled by the state government, is that the state government should supervise payment of their salaries from the local governments’ allocations. We can be transfered to any of the council areas in the state anytime, the state government supervises our employment, promotion, and discipline, so we should all be collecting our salaries at the same time.
What are the efforts your union has taken to ensure the implementation of this your demand?
It is not morally and legally right for workers under the same establishment not to collect their salaries at the same time. We have appealed, explained and gave them examples. They asked us to to and bring papers from other states, and we have furnished then with papers from Ondo, Ekiti, Lagos and even Osun state here. All the states in the southwest here pay their local government workers salaries the same day. So, in Oyo state there should be a common purse to pay local government workers.
Sometimes ago, the state government conducted a screening exercise after which some of your members were wrongly laid off, and your union took over the case. What is the situation now?
NULGE has not been doing this in isolation. We have been under the umbrella of the NLC and the Public Service Joint Negotiating Council of Oyo state led by Comrade Waheed Olojede and Comrade Ogundiran respectively. So far, I can say virtually all those who have genuine certificates have returned to their duty posts. But the point is that the exercise has continued. If it has been done once and for all, we would have been able to say that we have completed our assignment.
What is the reaction of your union to this screening exercise?
We believe strongly that the consultant engaged for the exercise is grossly incompetent to handle it. He brought out names of people claiming that they had fake WAEC results, but after thorough investigation, the consultant has been proved wrong. Virtually all those people produced their original certificates, and have returned to work after subjecting them to psychological torture. Unfortunately, he has been allowed to continue with the job. Although we don’t know the working agreement between the state government and the consultant, we know that the consultant is turning Oyo state into a money making machine.
What is your stand on the recent creation of LCDAs in the state?
You see the issue of creation of local government is quite desirable and progressive oriented. First, it enhances popular participation, second, it brings about development to the grassroots, third, it brings efficiency and effectiveness to allocation if resources. We are in support of the creation of the new council. Our only concern is that these newly established councils should be used to bring more development to the grassroots in Oyo state.
What is your reaction to the call by some state governors that local governments should be scaped instead of giving them autonomy as being championed by your union?
I think there is something these governors ate after beyond the welfare of their people. In the past, people struggled and actually mobilized their resources to have local government created in their areas because of the fact that it is the tier of government that brings development closer to the people. If by now somebody is saying that local governments should be scaped, we should all know that the person might be saying that out of selfish interests. And I think the way some of the states including Oyo State is running the affairs of local government, they are already test tuning the idea of local government as administrative section of the state, and with this, if it brings the desired development at the grassroots it left for me, you and general public’s to judge.
The refusal of state government to conduct local government election in Oyo state in the last six years is worrisome and unacceptable to us, we have made the call several times for the conduct of local government election in the state but the government is adamant, we are still using the opportunity to once again clamouring for the conduct of local government election in to the 33 councils and the LCDAs for proper, efficient and effective running of governance at the grassroots.
Sometimes ago some state governors are calling on the Federal government to hand off the federal roads in their respective states, what is your take on this?
This demand came as a surprise to us and we feel it is another ploy by these governors in blackmailing the Federal government. How do you explain this when the state governors are even yet to fix most of the state roads, they are now calling for federal roads again, I think there is clandestine motive behind the demand.
Senior Editor,
Lagos Post Online
Email: raji_adebayong@yahoo.com
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