LG worker slumps, dies, as NULGE protests unpaid salaries

Tragedy struck in Benin, the Edo State capital, on Wednesday when an employee of Esan North-East Local Government Council, identified as Peter Ayewoh, slumped and died during a mass protest by the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees over unpaid salary arrears.

It was learnt that Ayewoh, an employee of the Works department, slumped while protesting with hundreds of his counterparts from the 18 local government councils.

He was said to have been taken to a hospital, where he was confirmed dead and his remains later deposited in a mortuary in Uromi.

The protesting workers carried various placards, lamenting the failure of local government authorities to pay the outstanding salaries, ranging from two to 18 months.

Egor Council is said have the highest backlog of unpaid salary arrears.

The protest paralysed commercial activities in major areas in Benin, as the aggrieved workers marched in their hundreds from Five Junction to Ring Road before making their way to Sapele Road.