Ekiti State council workers under the umbrella of Nigeria Union of Local Government, NULGE, yesterday declared an indefinite strike over the inability of the state government to pay the N19,000 minimum wage.
The aggrieved workers carried placards of various inscriptions including; ‘Fayemi must pay our minimum wage’, ‘Enough is enough’, ‘Mr Governor should address the issue of
minimum wage’, ‘Fayemi should stop diverting the council funds’.
Meantime, the state government has expressed dismay that a section of NULGE members has succumbed to cheap blackmail by allowing themselves to be used by some disgruntled politicians to disturb the existing peace in the state under the leadership of governor Kayode Fayemi.
A statement from the office of the state’s Commissioner for Labour and Productivity, Mr. Apalara Wole-Adewumi, however, warned the leadership of NULGE to stop any further protest as government cannot be intimidated through any act that could lead to the breach of public peace.
Speaking on the strike, President of NULGE, Ekiti State, Comrade Dele Ajayi, the National Treasurer, Comrade Oluyemi Esan and Chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress in Ekiti, Comrade Ayodeji Aluko, told the workers who trooped out in their numbers that they would do everything to ensure that the minimum wage is paid to the council workers.