Offsetting salary arrears: Another step to strengthen Abia work force
By Ogbonnaya Ikokwu
The widespread celebration by the members of staff of the Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, on September 13, over the payment of the first tranche of three months of the outstanding N17 billion arrears of their salaries, was a clear manifestation that Gov. Alex Otti’s commitment to rectify the long-standing mismanagement of the state resources was not an empty political promise.
It was indeed a mission statement of his administration, which he is diligently working to bring to fruition.
The spontaneous joy, which culminated into singing and dancing to the trending “gwo gwo gwo ngwo” lyric of popular folklorist Mike Ejeagha, came about as a result of the fulfillment of the governor’s promise to clear the backlog of salary arrears owed civil servants and pensioners in the state. This was one his cardinal objectives of seeking to wrestle power from an indolent Peoples Democratic Party.
Gov. Otti had remained firm that the arrears owed by the immediate past administration of Okezie Victor Ikpeazu would be cleared, while reacting to a question from a journalist during the September edition of his monthly media chat.
The workers, who started receiving alert on their cellphones, could not hide their joy. They jumped into a massive celebration and, of course, the video of their joyous moment went viral on several social media platforms.
It will be recalled that a similar ecstatic and joyful celebration was also witnessed among pensioners in the state on March 28, when they started receiving the alerts over their pension arrears.
The state government had mapped out over N18 billion to clear salary arrears owed workers in
Abia State University, Abia State Polytechnic, Abia State College of Education (Technical Arochukwu), Abia State Teaching Hospital, and the Health Management Board, Umuahia.
Others institutions listed to benefit are the College of Health Sciences, Aba, Abia State Universal Basic Education Board, and the Secondary Education Management Board, among others.
The Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu, had it in a statement that the payment of the arrears will follow a 12-month amortisation plan.
The statement partly read: “In line with the promise of the Abia State Governor, Dr Alex Chioma Otti, to defray arrears of salaries owed workers of institutions in the state by previous administrations, the Office of the Accountant General has commenced the payment of the arrears to all verified workers amounting to N17, 629,767,342,09.
“The Abia State Government wishes to state that the payment will follow a 12-month armortisation plan with the first batch already disbursed to the affected institutions.
“This structured payment is meant to ensure that other areas of governance do not suffer from the lack of attention due to limited financial resources.
“By this development, the Dr Alex Otti-led administration has once more demonstrated its commitment to the promotion and sustenance of the welfare of Abia State civil servants at all times”.
The governor’s unwavering commitment to ensuring that civil servants receive their salaries regularly and promptly shows that his involvement in politics was targeted at improving the well-being of the people.
Away from the payment of salaries and pensions, the Gov. Otti’s government has also taken the upgrading of the road infrastructure across the state as a major task.
Abia has literally turned into an expansive construction site, where expansion and maintenance of roads are now a common phenomenon.
The use of engineers from the state Ministry of Works in fixing urban and rural roads through direct labour has also added value to the economic life of many of the ministry engineers, who were left redundant for years, but now have the opportunity of handling projects in the state with allowances that accrue to them. All that was made possible by the visionary leadership of Gov. Otti.
The extensive renovation and reconstruction of government offices throughout the state has also kept many artisans, such as carpenters, welders, plumbers, painters and others busy, thus helping them to provide food for themselves and their families at this critical economic moment.
The business class is not left out as the purchases of building materials, furniture are made from them for construction works.
Gov. Otti, through his mantra of using Abia’s money to work for Abia people, is touching many individuals across the different socio-economic strata of the state.
The people are happy that they kept faith with the governor for eight years he struggled to wrestle power from the Peoples Democratic Party that plundered the state resources for 24 years through bad governance.
As the governor works assiduously towards clearing the arrears of salaries in the next 11 months, it is obvious that Abia will experience greater level of development when the money available to the state would have been utilised for infrastructure and human capital development.
History will definitely reserve an enviable position for the people’s governor.
#Gov. Otti is Building the new Abia!
#To God be glory!
Ogbonnaya Ikokwu, a journalist and public affairs analyst, writes from Umuahia.