Abia Unpaid Salaries: 'I'm Not The Problem, Carry Your Cross' — Ex-Gov, Orji Tells Ikpeazu

Abia Unpaid Salaries: ‘I’m Not The Problem, Carry Your Cross’ — Ex-Gov, Orji Tells Ikpeazu

564
Reach the right people at the right time with Nationnewslead. Try and advertise any kind of your business to users online today. Kindly contact us for your advert or publication @ Nationnewslead@gmail.com Call or Whatsapp: 08168544205, 07055577376, 09122592273

The former governor of Abia State, Senator Theodore Orji, has washed his hands off incumbent and outgoing governor of the State, Okezie Ikpeazu’s ordeal between him and the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) over unpaid wages of State workers.

Information Nigeria reports that in a press release titled “Ikpeazu Should Carry His Cross,” which was signed by Senator Orji’s Liaison Officer, Ifeanyi Umere, the Senator posited that his administration is not responsible for the staggering salary arrears owed both civil servants, parastatals and pensioners in the State.

mgid.com, 677780, DIRECT, d4c29acad76ce94f

According to him, as at May 29,2015, when he exited as governor, no core civil servant was owed even one month salary arrears and that in the case of parastatals, they were owed between two and four months.

He furthered that the two to four months salary backlog was due to dwindling federal allocation occasioned by the worsening global economy.

Orji however wondered why the backlogs got to 35 to 40 months even when the Ikpeazu’s government received bail out funds from the federal government more than three times running into billions of naira.

READ ALSO: Abia Workers Begin Indefinite Strike Over Unpaid Salaries

The Senator, who now represents Abia Central at the national assembly said, “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 administrations is responsible for the staggering salary arrears owed both civil servants, parastatals and pensioners in the state.

“Before my administrations 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, 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.”

 

 

 


Reach the right people at the right time with Nationnewslead. Try and advertise any kind of your business to users online today. Kindly contact us for your advert or publication @ Nationnewslead@gmail.com Call or Whatsapp: 08168544205, 07055577376, 09122592273



Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *