Immediate-past Governor of Abia State, Senator Theodore
Orji, has washed his hands off the ordeals of Abians workers following a
backlog of salary arrears, telling his successor and the incumbent Gov Okezie
Ikpeazu to take responsibility for failing to pay workers.
This is as Abia workers have vowed to push on with their
ongoing indefinite strike until their backlog of salary arrears is defrayed.
The workers refuted claims by the Secretary to the State
Government, SSG, Chris Ezem, that the strike had been suspended, dismissing the
claims as untrue.
Senator Orji expressed shock that the outgoing Governor
despite receiving billions of Naira from the Federal Government as bailout
funds, was unable to pay Abia workers only to turn around and blame his failure
on him.
The Senator representing Abia Central who spoke through his
Chief Liaison Officer Hon Ifeanyi Umere, asked Ikpeazu to stop shifting blames
and own up to his failures.
Orji in a statement entitled: “Ikpeazu Should Carry His
Cross”, explained that when he left office in 2015, core civil servants were
not owed any salary arrears while workers in parastatals were owed not more
than four months.
He, therefore, expressed surprise that his successor had
allowed salary arrears to accumulate up to 40 months and still points accusing
fingers at him.
The statement read in part:”It’s unfortunate that I am
forced to comment and refute the half-truths being dished out by those who
through their own bad choices have found themselves in a quagmire.
“For the avoidance of any doubt, neither myself nor my
administration is responsible for the staggering salary arrears owed both civil
servants, parastatals and pensioners in the state.
“Before my administration came to an end on May 29, 2015,
core civil servants were not owed even one-month salary arrears. Parastatals
were the ones that were owed between two and four months. The records are
there.
“At any rate, the arrears were necessitated by the dwindling
federal allocation occasioned by the worsening global economy. The price of
crude had crashed and the states were getting a paltry two to three billion
naira monthly which was not even enough to run the state including capital and
recurrent expenditures.
“Those who took over from us inherited both assets and
liabilities. In this case, the government is a continuum. So, if we were owing
two to three months, we expected out successors to clear them.
This expectation was based on the fact that they received
bail out funds from the federal government more than three times running into
billions of naira. Again the economy had picked up considerably enabling the
outgoing government to chalk up considerable income as can be confirmed from
the ministry of finance.
“So why was it difficult for them to offset the debts? Again
if for any reason they couldn’t or were unwilling to offset, why did they allow
it to skyrocket to between 35 and 40 months? Why are they also owing core civil
servants?
“So basically, I am not the problem. They should carry their
cross.”
Meanwhile, the Labour union has urged workers to ignore
claims by the State Government that the strike had been suspended, arguing that
Government has no right to suspend strike it did not declare.
A release by the Secretary, State Council of Congress, Comrade
Emeka Alozie, urged workers to stay away from their offices “until further
notice”.
The release read:”The attention of the State Council of
Congress has been drawn to the press release signed by the Secretary to the
State Government (SSG) Barr. Chris Ezem with the intent that the ongoing strike
declared by labour has been called off.
“It is a known fact that Government does not have the
prerogative to call off a strike it did not declare.
“Therefore, the State Council of Congress wishes to state unequivocally
that the ongoing indefinite strike has not been suspended nor called off.
“Abia workers are therefore requested by the State Council
of Congress to continue to stay away from all their offices/working places till
further notice.”
The release explained that only workers in key offices were
excused to report for duty to work out salary payments based on a truce with
Government after an intervention by a security agency.
“It is however imperative to inform us that this afternoon,
the Director of State Security Service (SSS) intervened in the face-off with
the government. He appealed that labour should allow the government to access
some critical offices that relate to salary payment as requested by the
government.
“The offices are, offices of the HOS, SSG and AG to enable
the government to be able to pay salaries, with the promise that alerts will
start coming this evening while we continue the strike action. Hence the three
offices that were opened this afternoon.
“However, part of the agreement is that if by Monday the
government did not implement their promise, labour has the right to picket the
offices again.”
The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, had last week declared an
indefinite strike in Abia until the backlog of salary arrears is cleared.
Doctors in Abia State University Teaching Hospital Aba
ABSUTH are owed for 24 months while teachers are owed for many months.
Pensioners are also owed for over 35 months.
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