Governor Alex Otti of Abia State reports that his administration is considering implementing the N35,000 salary award for workers that was approved by the federal government.
He gave a speech yesterday while hosting executive members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) visiting from the Abia State Council.
He noted that a committee had been formed in that regard, and the committee had turned in its initial report.
On the other hand, Dr. Otti stated that he had given the committee instructions to expand on their work and submit a report to him. He also mentioned that he had given the Finance Commissioner instructions to investigate the Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHES) and its discriminatory pay structure for healthcare professionals.
The governor announced that his administration would investigate salary arrears from the previous administration for employees in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and parastatals, such as ABSUTH, ASUBEB, ASCETA, Abiapoly, and elementary school teachers, among others.
According to him, a group is collaborating with the Nigerian Union of retirees to find a way to pay retirees’ arrears.
According to Otti, there are still dishonest people in the system who commit crimes such as salary padding.
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He begged NLC to find those who were robbing the government of their rights.
“There are lots of people collecting salaries but are not coming to office.
“My challenge to NLC is to help us. What they (ghost workers) are doing, they are stealing from you. It is very important you take it as responsibility.”
Ogbonnaya Okoro, the State Chairman of the NLC, made an appeal to the governor to take into consideration enacting the N35,000 wage bill that the Federal Government approved for workers, to address the haughtiness of some government appointees against civil servants, and to settle salary arrears that the previous administration owed workers, which ranged from three to thirty months.
