Security men and cleaners working with Mubi North Local Government Area of Adamawa, on Tuesday, shut the gates of the council secretariat in protest over alleged non-payment of their 11 months salary.
The protesting workers said they were recruited as casual staff on paltry N5000 monthly allowance by the council.
“We were not paid our allowances for 11 months. As if that is not enough, the council recruited over 100 staff last week and non of us was among those newly recruited.
“This is in spite the promises to give priority to us any time there are vacancies,” said one of the protesters, who simply identified himself as Loko.
When contacted, the Head of Service, Mubi North Council, Mr Ahmed Isa, said that the workers were being owed four months allowance and not 11 months.
“They are owed only four months allowance and we are trying to pay them.
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“Why we could not pay them in the first place, was that we did not receive running cost for four months. We used to pay them from running cost.
“I have met them and we are going to see how we can pay them for one month from internally-generated revenue by next week.
“If we are lucky to receive running cost, we would pay them for two months or more,” Isa said.
On the issue of recruitment, Isa said that he was not around when they were recruited as casual workers, and was not aware of the condition for their engagement, or agreement reached with them during the recruitment.
Meanwhile, as at the time of filing in this report, the Council Secretariat had been opened by the protesters for normal work activities.
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