The Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Rivers State chapter, has ordered a seven-day warning strike across all 23 local government areas of the state.
The action, which began Tuesday, follows allegations that more than 500 staff of Emuoha Local Government Area were removed from the payroll, leaving them without salaries.
Emuoha Workers Cry Foul
Last week, the aggrieved workers stormed the Emuoha council secretariat in protest, accusing the council chairman, Dr. Chidi Lloyd, of unjustly sacking them. They insisted their names were deleted from the payroll without due process.
The protest, which drew attention from labour leaders in the state, forced NULGE to intervene. On Monday, the state president of the union, Sunday Adeniran, issued a directive asking all local government employees in Rivers to withdraw their services for seven days.
He described the action of the Emuoha chairman as “callous and unfair,” stressing that workers’ welfare cannot be sacrificed for politics.
Council Chairman Reacts
But Emuoha’s chairman, Dr. Lloyd, has denied any wrongdoing. Speaking in reaction to the strike, he claimed all “genuine staff” of the council had been duly paid.
According to him, the payroll was bloated with ghost names.
“In 2024, the staff strength was about 1,000 and some fractions, but when we came back, the figure had jumped to 1,600—and there was no employment,” he said.
The strike has now paralysed activities in council offices across Rivers State, heightening concerns about the fate of local government workers and the growing dispute between labour and council authorities.
