Date: 2017-02-09

Last year November following the constitution of the Transition Implementation Committee (TIC), in the state, there were renewed hope amidst the litigation of the opposition parties that the decision will significantly improve on the salary backlogs in the state. In this piece, HEAD POLITICS, MUMINI ABDULKAREEM AND KAYODE ADEOTI, examine how far the sixteen appointees have impacted the polity.

Just as seasons come and go, so is the present administration of the local government Transition Implementation Committee (TIC) is fast approaching its end with the agitation in the mind of many in the state on whether the purpose of constituting them in the first place has been actualised or defeated. The issue of backlogs owed workers in the state had become a recurrent decimal accompanied with dejection and depression which began few months to the 2015 general elections.

Thanks to the Governor's financial ingenuity, the state, despite being one of the poorest in realm of allocation, had devised means and adopted a financial engineering approach that made the administration meet salary obligations of all workers across the state. But sadly afterwards and as the government exhausted the moneys generated for its wise decision to save during the raining day occasioned by the prolonged dwindling allocation from the federal government, the salaries of the local government workers especially, accumulated and has since stuck.

During the inauguration ceremony at the Government House last year, the governor, among other things, said the new arrangement would make it possible for the payment of what had since become contentious salary arrears of local government workers and directed the committees to make financial prudence their watchword.

"In this regard, you are to avoid making unnecessary appointments, shun ostentation and avoid any conduct capable of calling your integrity into question. We promised to support the local government councils within available resources and guidance to see them through the difficult times and when the report of the State Committee on Personnel Database Development is submitted, monthly recurrent expenditure at the local and state levels will reduce, thus freeing funds for infrastructural development", the governor added.

Away from the issue of jurisdiction between the government and local councils, some apologists and analysts, who have argued on the point of exigencies rather than law saluted the governor for taking one of the robust steps yet to clear backlogs of the workers’ salaries in the state. According to this school of thought, the non conduct of the local government polls, which would have gulp over a billion naira and the funds saved from the non payment of salaries to local council bosses and their cabinet will no doubt assist the government to put the crisis of backlogs of salaries in the state behind it. These coupled with the expected increased revenue from the IGR and federal allocation gave many people the impetus to interrogate the narrative with positivity. But, the position of the government over the purpose of the TIC has raised a lot of rhetorical questions among the political class in the state even as the backlogs from last year they were meant to clear have started to accumulate and even snowballing to a worse situation.

Few weeks ago, the Ifelodun Local Government Council in the state said it had decided to sack 51 casual workers owing to inability to pay their salaries. According to the TIC chairman of the council, Alhaji Garuba Labaka, the decision to lay off the casual workers became unavoidable when the revenue coming to the council can no longer cover their salaries.

"I've not been able to pay the permanent staff conveniently not to talk of the casual staff, I think one come before the other, our predecessors employed them because the revenue from the federal account was impressive, but now it is not so. Our government is striving, when things return to normal, we can call them back. I don’t want to deny any worker the wages for their sweat", In the same vein, the Ilorin West TIC chairman, AbdulHameed Oladipupo-Alli said the council plans to engage politicians and other important dignitaries in the area to offset the over eight months arrears owed its sweepers.

Ali, while speaking with newsmen in Ilorin after a protest by the sweepers confirmed that the council is indebted to over 600 sweepers engaged by the local government and attributed the inability of the council to settle the eight months salaries to current economic recession in Nigeria which he said led to shortfall in monthly allocation to the council.

In his reaction to the issue, the chairman of TIC, Alhaji Muhammed Isiaka Danmairomo said local government as the third tier of government has its own inherent problems that has impeded greatly on its growth over the years. He argued that the way the local government council is been run in the state is wrong, saying it lack some professionalism features. Dan- mero

"Local government system is rotten, I was a public servant before, what I have seen in the local government scared me, because the way the council is being run, before it could perform efficiently, there must be some sort of professionalism in it, not just anybody coming there, things need to be put in proper perspective at the council level. We can't compared the way things are been done at the local government level with that of the state, all these problems have been on accumulation for long. To start in a day and say you want to correct what has been bartered for long, it's not easy. And our government is working towards ridding the council of all these manmade problems.

"Everybody at the council should be patient and have trust in the state government; at the JAAC meetings, the union leaders are there and the council chairmen. We would not fault the state government for not having been able to stabilise the economic situation of the local government councils in the state, at first, government did not emphatically declared things will return to its normal position but they only 'hope' and March is still away. If things improved from the federal level, then we will see the impact on our allocations. I can't encourage our TIC chairmen to be laying-off their casual workers because these people are members of the community whom we employed for assistance, let us all endure, things will get better. We rely too much on federal allocation, we should look inward, even in our individual councils to see how we can generate more revenue, each local government is vibrant enough to do this. What is happening in Lagos is a good example, they are sustaining on tax payers resources, he submitted.

Interestingly, some of the members of the cabinet have been speaking on the hope for the government to regularise the payment of local government salaries before the end of March. According to the Commissioner for Planning and Economic Development, Alhaji Wasiu Odewale, during a Radio Kwara personality interview programme, "Playing Host", this would be done through financial assistance to the councils. He further appealed to council chairmen to ensure that all financial loopholes are blocked while workers should be fully engaged in agricultural projects at least two days within the week.

The state government, he said, would rather engage workers in agriculture and other trades rather than retrenching them so as not to further compound the unemployment market. He urged the councils to generate more revenue internally and depend less on federal allocation. In the same vein, Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Alhaji Haruna Tambiri described the employment of casual workers as against the labour law, adding that the councils can no longer cope with their payment' tamibri

According to him, although laying them off will have political implication on the society, 'it is wrong when you don’t get wages of your sweat'. "The government, is hoped, never come out categorically that the situation will improve before March, if Niger-Delta boys ceased blowing up the pipeline, and the volume of our crude oil increases, then the economy will bounce back and things will change too.

To be sure, it is important for the local government TIC appointees to however come to terms and be on the same page with the executive by thinking outside the box to come up with agricultural models to engage the casual workers and turn what is ordinarily perceived as a burden to means of wealth creation that will positively impact the system. Just like Danmairomo has noted, sacking the workers is like a win-lose situation for both parties in this time of economic recession, especially when there is possibility of making workers a vital part of the improvement and diversification of the state's finances.

While the discourse for the best solution to the issue is on, one of the wings of the opposition PDP-led by the embattled chairman, Iyiola Oyedepo has reiterated the desire to challenge the constitution of the TIC in court.

According to him, the state government should "find lasting solution to the backlogs of arrears of the local government workers. We couldn't have allowed the action of the ruling government go unchallenged, we want to make the point that this is unconstitutional. Our government knows this. Even if they say they are going to win the elections again, we should hold poll and we will be there to battle it out, but failure to conduct the election is what is wrong and we are challenging it in court.