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James Ojachepa, a Public Affairs Analysts writes on the challenges facing the Local Government Councils in Kogi State, concluding that as challenging as it has been, it is caused by a multiplicity of problems beyond the leadership of the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees, commended the tact and diplomacy the leadership has employed to ensure that it retains all its members, without necessarily engaging in confrontations which may not in the long run yield result.
Leaders are often attacked and are the victims of false accusations. Followers sometimes misunderstand their leaders. The above succinctly captures the scenarios happening at the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) in Kogi State.
I have taken it upon myself to look at the leadership of Comr. Tade Adeyemi, State President of Kogi State NULGE. Obviously without mincing words, life cannot be said to be palatable for LG workers in the State when juxtaposed with what obtains in the past.
It is important to state that the success of any labour leader is predicated on the enabling environment created by the government leadership at the state.
The labour and many other sectors in Kogi State without overstating the obvious would agree that no sector that is not going through a difficult time. Beginning from the Federal and to states in Nigeria, there is no doubting the fact that labour agitations like it used to be in the past has not really thrive in Nigeria like it used to be.
Reasons why the National President of NLC till date is still threatening to lock down some states yet to implement the N30,000 minimum wage. His agitation was even made worse by the advent of Covid-19, making even states that reluctantly agreed to pay, make a retreat.
While the case of the NULGE in Kogi State calls for concern and indept appraisal, if one must be truthful to his conscience, looking at the happenings in the state, it would not be far fetched to state that between the NULGE leadership and the state government, engagements as fierce as it has been has always ended up in grid lock, with the challenges in the council administration, the size of the employees, acting as impediments to the NULGE agitations.
Most people may not want to believe, but the challenges and a search for solution led me to an in-depth research of other councils in Nigeria as regards their various problems and their number of employees.
Beginning from the far North where some state councils are still yet to enjoy the new minimum wage to the south, east and west, it is pretty difficult to come across councils with above 300 staffers in the North as a whole.
Until the Kaduna State Government went to the mud to implement some obnoxious policies in the council, no council in the state had above 400 staff.
The essence of this postulation aims at drawing to the fore the burden of councils in Kogi State, that it is over-stretched by past administration’s who saw given employment in the third tier as patronages, thus over-bloating the employment in some instances to about 2000 staffers, a number that every thinkable mind is no doubt outrageous.
In the last five year administration in the state, I sat down to determine one at a time whether a strike by any labour sector had achieved result. To determine the success of strike as a tool used usually used for agitation. In my sincere assessment, I could not come up with one that was successful.
As such, I came to a realization that rather than sit at home and no body answers to your questions what then is the essence. Similarly, protesting for agitations and questions that takes you to the street, when at sometimes too you are left at the Mercy’s of hired mercenaries who are sent to kill and even maim what does it make . To me I think it is better to be alive than fight and never fight again.
I have had the privileged to be at some discussions with some top government persons who think it is better to prune down the number of council workforce to a minimum of what obtains in other states like in Enugu, Delta, Rivers not having above 250 employees if the justification to pay above what is now obtained and clamored for must be implemented.
This to me also brings to the fore the understanding which I think the NULGE leadership thinks and have always applied and maintained that half bread is better than none. This is as painful as I think that some persons may not see it that way, but it is only those who do not want to come to terms with what is the new normal in the states that would want the NULGE leadership to engage in confrontation, which for me in the long run would be needless, counterproductive.
That the world, including Nigeria, with the various councils in Nigeria are the worst hit with the economic recession, leading to poor remunerations to workers mostly in the local government, is not an understatement. It is pitable that what accrues to workers is not able to take them home and is as insulting as some persons may see it, it is however a problem that is multi-faceted. The problems in the LG range from inhuman face of most governors seeing the councils as an appendages. Secondly, the way and manner the council leaders are elected or appointed, makes them lame ducks add to their problems. Added to this is the size of the workforce, coupled with a sharp drop in revenue allocation to the councils that is bedeviled by several deductions.
I was privy to a monthly allocation of N2.8 billion that was accrued to the 21 LGAs in the State sometimes back. In this particular month, my curiosity drove me to attend the several meetings to arrive at what should be paid to the various councils. In the N2.8 billion was N1.2b VAT. Unfortunately the appendage nature of the councils to the State made the state through the JAC to insist on applying the constitutional provisions of using 30% of N1.6b SRA as salaries.
When the 30% was arrived at, the total money left came down to N1.6B. This is not done yet, as there is a constitutional 5% to traditional rulers, 1% to be set aside for JAC, another 1% for Local Government Commission and another 1% for office of the Auditor General. Added to the problem of the council is several lawful deduction to the State Security Trust Fund, CUSTECH amongst others. At the end of all of this deduction, the amount left for the councils was a paltry N498m, an amount that could only pay 16.5% salaries to workers in the Local Government levels from the above scenarios. Except a magician labour leader at the local government level, one wonders what magic would have been performed for an improve wages.
It took appeals from the Joint Action Committee of the local government for an addition by the government in that month to be able to pay 25% – 30% as salaries.
Over time even before this present leadership of the council administration, have indebted the councils with loans, leading to the grounding of councils account monthly, until appeals, and over draft are secured before the release of such monthly allocation, this is coupled with the current challenges, is not overstating the problem and reason why the council workers are at the receiving end.
While it is painful that workers and their families are made to suffer the sins of some past mistakes and system failures, it is important to salute the firmness, forthrightness of the Kogi NULGE leadership, whom I think have chosen to apply diplomacy rather than confrontation in the face of the current challenge. While some may advocate better ways to coming out of the challenge, for the council leadership, living with optimism that tomorrow would be better as things won’t continue like this, is what the Commr. Tade Adeyemi leadership thinks in the face of the present challenge.
What has always been the believe by the leadership is an understanding and support from members believing that tough times don’t last forever even though as humans we’re bound to always ask our rights and privileges. For the present NULGE leadership who believes it is better to still remain in the service with an expectation that tomorrow will be better than tommorow than to throw in the towel through agitations that the present administration may see as a loopholes to clampdown on the workforce.
Without mincing words, the time is not given to for name calling and pull him down syndrome. That the leadership has developed sleepless nights and high blood pressure is a factor of concern and burden of the workers it has genuinely carried is a thing that is not hidden.
Times like this demand for men who are followers to know and understand times and seasons that it is not the failure of leadership, but that the leadership like in the past only performs to the admirations of its followers, if the enabling environment is made possible with human face.
For now Comr. Tade may elicit a different definition from different people. Whichever divide you fall into, the agitations for better welfare and remunerations for his members has remained unwaivering. He is a man who from the onset is fired with a passion-driven to better the lot of his members.
This was the reason why at the end of the screening exercise began by the present administration, from a number that is less than 10,000, his efforts has helped to clear more members making workers at the council to now run close to 20,000.
Comr. Tade’s insistences to using tact and diplomacy and have his members intact and not lose any one member inspite the efforts to create frustration and make many throw in the towel calls for commendation.
The courage the NULGE leadership has displayed to look forward to a brighter future amidst the present challenges that there is light at the end of the tunnel and to keep on using tact and deplomacy is commendable.
This is a trait that has made him not to be intimidated by the problem but to stay the course strive to keep together all the members he inherited in the face of an environment that is not enabling.
One thing that is peculiar to Kogi NULGE is that it working a path that is different than what the other labour affiliates are going through. The call is for a show of understanding and support, particularly that everyone in that sector including the labour leadership is also facing the problem like other members.
James Ojachepa Musa, is a Public Affairs Analysts, with specialty in council administration and diplomacy, writes from Okene, Kogi State.
