Breath of Fresh Air in Abia

POLITICAL NOTES

Things are beginning to look up in Abia State as civil servants are now having a breath of fresh air. According to reports, the state governor, Dr. Alex Otti, who promised to pay all salary arrears owed by his predecessor, has so far paid arrears of 38 months.

Under Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, the state was notorious for owing workers’ salaries. Life was tough for many civil servants. Things were so bad then that the then President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Ayuba Wabba, accused the state of becoming one of Nigeria’s most worker-unfriendly sub-national governments on account of the huge unpaid salaries.

Until Otti came on May 29, the state since 1999 had been unfortunate to have the worst form of leadership in the southern part of the country and the South-east in particular. It had benefited at least twice from the Paris Club refund running into billions of naira specifically meant to pay salary arrears and bailout funds. Apart from always getting huge allocations from the Federation Account, it also enjoys the 13 per cent derivation. There were also loans obtained by the successive governments in the state, yet the state was replete with infrastructural decay.

Despite all of these, Governor Ikpeazu’s body language did not reveal any attempt to resolve the issues. While the Abia workers and residents were being denied of dividends of democracy, Ikpeazu was seen gallivanting the globe and other parts of Nigeria with other G-5 governors holding secret meetings against their party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Under him, staff of Abia State University Teaching Hospital  (ABSUTH) were owed 23 months’ salary arrears; secondary school teachers, 11 months; primary school teachers – three months; pensioners, 30 months; and pensioners in the judiciary sector owed pension benefits for more than two years.

Also, Abia State Polytechnic were being owed 30 months’ salary arrears, while workers in Abia State College of Education had their 29 months’ salaries left unpaid.

Workers in Abia State College of Health Sciences and local government areas were also owed five months.

While chronicling infractions committed by the state government against the workers, the NLC said the approved CONHESS was yet to be implemented in the state from May 2021 May 29, 2023. It said that it was on record that the NBTE withdrew the accreditation of the Abia State Polytechnic.

Governor Otti is addressing the situation, despite the state’s precarious financial situation and the state civil servants are happy.