Workers of local government in Kogi state yesterday protested in favour of the proposed council autonomy, describes it as a catalyst to grassroots development.
The rally which was organised by Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) in conjunction with the state chapters of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Medical Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN) covered a distance of 10 kilometers to deliver their letter to the House of Assembly.
Addressing the workers at the NLC premises in Lokoja before the workers trekked to the House of Assembly premises, the state chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Onuh Edoka, lamented that the local government councils had been kept in a precarious situations where salaries are not paid as at when due as a result of lack of financial autonomy.
Edoka noted that the rally was organised to show the level of commitment of council workers in ensuring that the House of Assembly do the needful to support the National Assembly in the realisation of the autonomy.
“We have been short change for long and made incapacitated, we want financial autonomy so that the local government councils can come back to life once again,” he said.
Also speaking, the Kogi state President of NULGE, Comrade Tade Adeyemi, appealed to the House of Assembly to see the season and support the glamour for autonomy in the local government, saying that they had been emasculated for too long.
At the premises of the assembly where the workers presented their letter to the Speaker, Matthew Kolawole, who assured them that members would do the needful to ensure that the local government autonomy sailed through.
