The Chairman of Local Government Service Commission in Kwara State, Alhaji Suleiman Yusuf, has urged members of the state's chapter of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) to shelve their planned strike over an alleged delay in payment of June and July salaries of some of their members across the existing 16 councils of the state.

Yusuf, while reacting to the threat by the local NULGE recently in Ilorin said that the leadership of the association allegedly failed to explore all the available options under the industrial labour relations before the issuing of the strike notice.

In an exclusive chat with The Guardian in Ilorin, "NULGE members are the employees of the commission. It is an embarrassment for me to be picking their notice on pages of newspapers. Nobody ever raised any of the issues complained of with me. I think it is not fair for us to be so treated."

The NULGE had in a communique signed by its secretary alleged among others, heavy deductions in the allocations of the councils by the state government through the joint accounting arrangement between the two tiers of government and the alleged hijacking of the local government system by the state's Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy Affairs and Community Development. The body therefore gave a 14-day ultimatum to the government to address the issues raised or be faced with an indefinite strike action by the workers. Ultimatum will elapse by the end of this month.

The NULGE claimed that the development could not be divorced from the recent challenges facing the councils over the non-payment of the workers' salaries.

But Yusuf said that complaints by some of the chairmen of the councils over bloated staff strength leading to paucity of funds after the payment of workers salaries at the councils level prompted Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed-led government to the ordering of biometric exercise of the staff.

The exercise, he explained, was responsible for the delay in the payment of salaries. Besides, he blamed the delay in the cut by over 25 per cent in monthly federal allocations to the state and the councils, noting that the cut was however limited to Kwara.

"The governor had adequately briefed us on these developments before their present manifestation. I think we need to allow the governor to conclude the exercise before rushing to the press.

"As a people already in the picture, therefore, I will urge the NULGE to withdraw its notice to embark on strike. The body should give room for dialogue and true understanding of the present situations. Many of the councils are not viable enough to carry out capital projects. It is through the joint account with the government at the state level that they can construct roads, provide pipe borne water and rural electricity," he added.

For him, the workers should rather than complaining over the joint allocation method in which the state contributes 60 per cent of the required funds as against the 40 per cent by the councils, praised the state for conceding to the idea.

Yusuf said that the state governor meant well for the people of the state and would therefore not settle for anything that would jeopardise their interests.