The frosty relationship between Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi and local government workers under the aegis of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees(NULGE) rather than thaw is getting messier, as the workers have rejected the old minimum wage prepared for them by the state government as October salary.
The workers, who have been on strike for over a month, are insisting that they will not collect any salary that is not in tandem with the N19,300 new minimum wage announcedby the government last April.
Findings by our correspondent revealed that the workers are also saying that the government should pay those in the health sector among them the approved CONHESS and CONMESS salary scale.
The state government has always said it would pay the new rates after a biometric screening of the workers has been done.
This position has been faulted by the workerswho said they have been screened biometrically more then thrice and that the government is only giving flimsy excuse.
Also, the workers, whose leadership has beensued by the governor for alleged libel, are adamant that the suit should go ahead and be assigned by the Chief Judge of the state, despite the pressure by some people on the workers to tender public apology to the governor.
A source at a meeting held last Wednesday between the workers and government officials over the logjam, told Nigerian Compass that the workers are piqued by the fact that the governor had called them namespublicly and now wants a behind the scene resolution of the matter.
The workers had, sometime in July this year, sent a memo to the governor, frowning at the parlous financial situation of local governments in the state and blamed it on the manner the finances of the local governments were being handled by the state government.
They alleged that about N1 billion was deducted from the accounts of the LGs for other use apart from matters concerning the LGs.
Some critics of the governor said LG fund waspart of the nearly N1.5 billion being spent on the renovation of public secondary schools inthe state.
Constitutionally, LGs are not in charge of secondary school education and their funds not meant for the aforementioned purpose.
Governor Fayemi, in order to clear himself, sued the leadership of NULGE and a national daily, claiming he was defamed by the allegation.
With the stance of the workers, LGs in the state have been shut down and activities in primary health care institutions, LG marriage registries, among others, have been paralysed.
LGs in the state have been under the administration of caretaker committees since February when LG polls could not be conducted as an Ado-Ekiti High Court faulted the composition of the State Independent national Electoral Commission by Fayemi.
The court held that the members of the electoral body were card-carrying members of the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria and therefore would not be able to midwife free and credible polls.
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party has consistently said the crippling of LGs is due tothe fact that they are run by caretaker bodies.
The PDP State Chairman, Mr Makanjuola Ogundipe, noted that the state governor only handpicked those in the caretaker committees and that the people cannot complain of any wrong doing because they would be sent packing