Abia Workers
EKO HOT BLOG reports that the Abia State chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has accused Governor Alex Otti of withholding workers’ salaries for seven months.
The accusation was made in a statement released over the weekend, jointly signed by the State Chairperson, Ogbonnaya Okoro, and Secretary, Emma Alozie.
The NLC criticized the governor for insisting on another verification exercise for state workers. This comes as the state government, through a circular issued by the head of service, directed public and civil servants in ministries, departments, agencies (MDAs), and 17 local government areas to upload their documents online as part of the verification process.
According to the circular, workers were required to upload their documents between May 10 and May 31, 2024.
However, the NLC in the state said it was surprised that the state government was making the request even after workers in the state had previously undergone a verification exercise ordered by the government.
The NLC claimed that the state government withheld the salaries of many workers for over seven months on the basis that some were yet to be verified.
The workers said it was a “slight for government to again organise such a sensitive programme for our members without recourse” to the NLC, the umbrella body of workers in the state.
Abia Workers
They said they viewed the recent directive for the verification as “retrogressive to an earlier vision of the governor to fish out ghost workers from the system.”
“Another verification exercises a few months after the first one is anti-workers, considering the economic hardship the workers are going through with their meagre salaries and that asking them to go online is another financial burden to the workers faced with various financial challenges,” the statement read in part.
The NLC asked the state government to, as a matter of urgency, put the exercise on hold to avoid an industrial crisis.
“Therefore, the State Executive Council (of the NLC) in session finally resolved that no Abia worker in the MDAs and the 17 Local government areas should henceforth present his or herself for any form of online verification pending when this issue would be discussed between labour and government,” the statement added.
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