A peaceful protest by staff of Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State over seven months of unpaid salaries turned tense on Wednesday after the council chairman, Chidi Lloyd, dismissed the demonstrators as non-genuine employees.
The aggrieved workers gathered at the State House of Assembly Staff Quarters in Port Harcourt, carrying placards and calling on lawmakers to intervene in the prolonged delay in the release of their verification reports and the payment of their salaries.
Despite assembling at the entrance of the quarters, none of the lawmakers came out to address the protesters.
Speaking with journalists, one of the protest leaders, Nwaru Solomon, expressed frustration over what he described as the council’s refusal to pay workers who had already been verified.
According to him, a verification exercise ordered by the state government had been completed, yet more than 300 workers who passed the process had not received their salaries.
“We have not been paid for more than seven months. The chairman claims we are ghost workers. The governor ordered a verification, which has been concluded, and we know the report is ready. Yet, out of over three hundred verified workers, only seventeen have been paid,” Solomon said.
Solomon also provided background to the dispute, alleging that Lloyd had earlier removed several names from the payroll during his first tenure in 2021 without approval from the Local Government Service Commission.
He further claimed that although Governor Siminalayi Fubara later ordered the reinstatement and promotion of the affected workers, their names were again removed when Lloyd returned for a second term.
“It’s been more than seven months now that the chairman of Emouha local government has not paid us our salaries reason being that he called us ghost workers which the governor of the state ordered for a verification exercise which has been concluded and we are aware that the report is ready but the local government commission has refused to send the report to chairman of different LGAs that is why we have come here to register our displeasure to let the rivers state house of assembly know what we are going through in Emouha local government,” he said.
However, reacting to the protest, Lloyd maintained that the demonstrators are not legitimate staff of the council and linked the controversy to a verification exercise carried out in 2022.
He accused previous administrations of failing to follow due process during recruitment and alleged that some of the affected individuals were involved in dual employment, which he said justified their removal.
The council chairman, however, insisted that his administration remains committed to due process.
“I am not worried about those protesting, provided my administration is doing what is right. The protesters should remain calm and await the official outcome of the verification process,” he said.
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