The Chairman of Gwagwalada Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory, Alhaji Abubakar Jibrin Giri, has attributed the delay in paying three months' salary arrears to council staff and health workers to a court order that garnished the council's account.

Giri, who spoke to Abuja Metro by phone on Saturday, was reacting to the shutting down of the council's secretariat and all health centers and clinics in the area by the FCT chapter of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE).

He explained that a contractor, to whom the council owed money, had obtained a court order, leading to the garnishing of the council's account.

Giri assured that the delay in payment was not deliberate and that measures were being put in place to ensure the arrears are paid unfailingly by Monday or Tuesday.

It would be recalled that the FCT NULGE leadership, chaired by Comrade Abdullahi Ibrahim Kabi, had last Thursday directed the Gwagwalada branch of the union to shut down the council's secretariat and all clinics and health centers across the council due to the non-payment of their members' three months' arrears by the council.