BY GRACE IGWEANYI
The N26 billion naira
bail- out funds advanced to Imo State to offset cost of workers’ salaries in
September 2015 is said to be responsible for the drop in the monthly revenue
allocation to the State.
Imo State has been grappling
with workers wages in the last one year as workers went home without pay for
several months.
Last December, the State governor announced that it has paid
all workers in the State. Governor Okorocha insists he owes no worker a dime in
the State.
In January 2016,
workers in 19 Parastatals and agencies were sacked by the State government,
though officials of government insist they were only suspended with the proviso
that they could be reabsorbed if they pass a “productivity test”.
The State Governor,
Rochas Okorocha has continuously said the State cannot continue to pay a
bulging monthly wage bill of workers which he put at over N4 billion naira.
Imo State, according to
him, received N1.9 billion naira in December 2015 as its allocation from the
federation account.
With the falling price
of crude oil in the international market, the revenue from the federal purse to
the State is expected to dip further.
The Governor who spoke
to newsmen last Friday at Government House, Owerri admitted that part of the
monthly allocation for the State is used to service the bail- out.
According to a top government
aide who spoke to this newspaper on condition of anonymity, after servicing the
bail-out with part of the allocation, the remainder is not enough to pay
workers salaries and other social services.
According to him, this is one of the key
factors why the State government is constrained in paying workers salaries and carrying
out other social responsibilities.
“This is why we came up
with the concession. No worker was sacked. We only suspended workers. Imo State
is insolvent, thus we need new ideas to make things happen and for the State to
move forward. This is why we considered it important to concession, so that
private hands can come in and turn around those agencies that have been
consuming the lean resources of the State” he said.
Workers and the State
government have been at loggerheads over plans to downsize the State workforce.
No comments:
Write comments