PORTHARCOURT: The Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) in Rivers State has declared a seven-day warning strike following the alleged removal of more than 500 staff from the payroll of Emuoha Local Government Area.
The affected workers, who had protested at the Emuoha council secretariat last week, accused the council chairman, Dr. Chidi Lloyd, of arbitrarily sacking them and denying them their salaries.
The workers vowed to sustain their demonstrations until their names were restored to the payroll.
Following the protest, the matter was escalated to the state leadership of NULGE, which, after an emergency meeting on September 29, directed all its members across the 23 local government areas to withdraw their services from Tuesday.
A statement issued by the Rivers State NULGE President, Sunday Adeniran, and addressed to all state offices and branch chairmen, described the council chairman’s actions as callous and unfair.
“The State Executive Council of the union resolved to embark on a seven-day warning strike with effect from midnight of September 30, 2025. Accordingly, all local government employees across the state are hereby directed to withdraw their services until further notice, the statement read.
But in a swift reaction, the Emuoha chairman, Dr. Lloyd, dismissed the allegations, insisting that all legitimate staff had been paid. He accused the union of blackmail, claiming that the protest was being fuelled by individuals whose names had been “smuggled” into the payroll.
In 2024, the staff strength of the council was about 1,000, but by the time we returned, it had jumped to 1,600—and there was no fresh employment,” Lloyd argued.
The warning strike, if fully observed across Rivers State, is expected to paralyse local government operations in all 23 councils pending further negotiations between the union and government authority
