-Rubbishes Uzodinma’s claim of payment
By Martin Nwoko
Hell was literally let loose yesterday as thousands of Imo workers who are yet to be paid their salaries by the Hope Uzodinma administration in the state besieged government house Owerri to disprove the statement made by the Governor calling on all Imo civil servants who claim not to have been paid to come to government house with their documents and prove that they have not been paid their salaries.
The Governor who stated this last Sunday during an inter-denominational service to mark his one year in office maintained that he has paid every genuine civil servant in the state except few who have one issue or the other occasioned by the monumental fraud he noticed in the payroll system when he assumed office one year ago.
The unpaid workers in their large numbers were seen chanting different songs calling on the Imo state government to pay them their salaries which is their legitimate right as workers in the state.
On ground at the government house gate, the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Governor Barrr Emeka Agbor and the SA to the Governor on Youth Affairs, Hon Eric Uwakwe were seen collecting documents of the unpaid workers as requested by the state government.
A staff of Mbaitoli LGA who pleaded anonymity disclosed that he received his salary last in August 2020 and wondered why he has not been paid insisting that all his document and Bank verification number had been used to pay him since 15years of his service to the state. The worker condemned in its entirety the staggering manner which the state government is adopting in the payment of salaries in the state where some will receive salary this month and next two months will not be paid.
Speaking further, the anonymous unpaid worker hinted that they decided to come to government house and show themselves to the governor that they are genuine workers in the state for his immediate action as he promised last Sunday. He reiterated that Imo state civil servants should not be held responsible for any form of fraud as claimed by the governor but for the state government to carry out an investigation and punish those found guilty of the crime, within the system.
He called on the governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma to take immediate action to see that workers are paid promptly and as at when due stressing that many of them presently can not boast of one square meal a day or take good care of themselves and their families who depend on them for sustenance.
Meanwhile, Imo teachers numbering over 300 had on Tuesday stormed the entrance of the government house, almost at the time the governor was en route to IBC for a radio program to protest non-payment of their salaries.The workers had expected governor Uzodinma to address them but rather than doing so, the governor was heard on air reaffirming that those who haven’t been paid their salaries are either ghost workers or have issues with documentation.
