ENUGU WORKERS SUPPORT PANELS FOR COUNCILS

Workers in Enugu State under the auspices of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Joint Public Service Negotiating Council (JPSNC), have expressed support for government’s plan to appoint caretaker

committees to run the affairs of the 17 local government councils in the state.

The workers made their decision known in a statement jointly signed by the Enugu State Chairman of the NLC, Comrade Viginues Nwobodo Chuks, and that of the TUC/ JPSNC, Comrade Igbokwe Chukwuma Igbokwe.

The state chapter of the organised Labour commended Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi “for the decision to appoint caretaker committees for local councils, pending the conclusion of the ongoing staff audit.”

They pointed out that the local government system in the state has “failed woefully in service delivery and provision of dividends of democracy to the grassroots,” adding that the Labour Unions support any policy of government that would cleanse the rot in the system before constituting a new local government administration in the state.

The workers urged the governor not to compromise merit in appointing caretaker committee members and charged him to remain resolute in efforts to “recover any public fund misappropriated by any public officer in the local government system”

According to the statement, “the organised labour in Enugu State pledges to support any policy by the present administration to clean the rot in the system and to provide good governance, sustainable development, economic growth, and healthcare delivery to the good people of the state as encapsulated in the four-point agenda.”  

It could be recalled that Enugu State Stakeholders and the State Chapter of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), the umbrella organisation of all political parties in the country, had recently endorsed the setting up of caretaker committees due to the ongoing local government staff audit and others reforms; and the inadequate budgetary provision for the exercise in the current budget.