Governor Otti Gets More Allocations Than Previous Governments, Yet Failed To Clear Salary Arrears Inherited From Ikpeazu —NLC

The labour union chairman said this during an exclusive interview with Sunday PUNCH while commenting on the ongoing feud with the state government over seven-month unpaid salaries to workers who haven’t scaled through the state’s verification process, among others.

The Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress in Abia State, Okoro Ogbonnaya has said that the current government of Alex Otti should clear all salaries inherited from the past government.

The labour union chairman said this during an exclusive interview with Sunday PUNCH while commenting on the ongoing feud with the state government over seven-month unpaid salaries to workers who haven’t scaled through the state’s verification process, among others.

The NLC chairman claimed that the current government of Otti had been receiving more funds than its predecessors and should be able to pay the civil servants owed salaries in the state.

He said, “It was because of the huge backlog of salaries being owed by the former administration that the workers voted it out and elected the current government.

“We believed that the new government, upon assumption of office, would wipe our tears and offset the backlog of arrears because the current administration is getting higher allocations than its predecessor.”

He added that the government is not showing any compassion and empathy to the workers whose salaries have not been paid.

He continued: “Nothing! Up till now, it has been nothing from the government. Yet, the people are groaning under heavy hardship.

‘Every day, they visit the commissioner for finance office and Accountant General’s office, but all to no avail. They will ask them to report to the Accounts Department, the Payroll (Unit), and all that, but nothing has come out of the whole movement.

If care is not taken, the issue will linger for one year, because the names of the affected people are not even in the state government payment system. After all, they don’t have verification codes.

“Mind you, those that are even verified are still being owed. Some are owed three months; some are four months. That is why we are asking: what is the problem? Why are the verified people not being paid for three to four months? So they (the government) know what they are doing.”

The NLC chairman faulted the argument of the government that it was only those who were not properly verified that were being owed.

He said, “Some people who have been verified were not paid for three or four months.

“We are trying to understand the puzzle as to why people outside the state have been cleared and have been collecting salaries from the government, but those reporting to duty in the state and doing the work daily have not been verified and not getting salaries.

“When we ask the government, they keep saying the affected people have verification code problems. We asked who generated the code, is it not the same agency handling the exercise? This is the major issue.”