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From Jude Owuamanam, Jos
The industrial action embarked upon by the Plateau state chapter of the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) has taken a toll on the administration of local governments in the state.
NULGE had on Monday embarked on strike to protest the directive by the police to the 17 democratically elected local government chairmen and councillors to resume duties on Monday.
NULGE Secretary, Sa’ad Abdulmumini, who signed the statement said the union was at a loss on the import of the police directive and to protect the workers had asked them to stay away from office.
There has been a dingdong affair between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government of Caleb Mutfwang and the chairmen who were all members of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) elected in 2021 during the administration of former Governor Simon Lalong.
Mutfwang had, on assumption of office and on the motion passed by House of Assembly suspended them and appointed transition implementation committee chairmen to take over the administration of the 17 local government areas of the state.
Mutfwang’s action had generated tension, leading to the sealing of the secretariats of the 17 local government areas.
However before the court could make any final pronouncement on the suit filed by elected local officials, the police on Monday totally unsealed the offices and asked them to resume office.
The directive did not go down well with the state government and NULGE, which asked their workers to down tools. The union said the action was to save to the lives of the workers.
When our correspondent visited the Jos North local government, most of the offices were locked as the police have taken over the entire premises.
Some workers who spoke to our correspondent said that they were not sure of their safety and had rather opted to stay away.
It was gathered that the same scenario was replicated in all local government headquarters as workers stayed away in obedience to the directives from NULGE.
Chairman of Shendam local government area, Alex Nantuang, told our correspondent on telephone that he and his colleagues have taken over the running of the local government areas following the directive from the police.
He said, “We have taken over. We are the executive arm of government and the strike by NULGE will not affect our work.”
Nantuang however said that there had been some resistance by some NULGE officials to their resumption, adding however that the police were to there to ensure safety of lives and property.
