.As Uncertainty Grip Workers
By Eze Egejuru, Online News Editor
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| Imo Workers During One Of Their Protests |
This Online Newspaper has not been able to verify these fears from relevant quarters.
Workers in Imo State are expected to resume duties on January 11, 2016 after the State Governor, Rochas Okorocha declared three weeks Christmas/ New Year holiday.
Before they went on Christmas holiday, they alleged they were issued “Pay Off forms” which they were asked to sign before collecting their pay. According to their claims, a clause in the forms stated that they should comply or be sacked if the economy dwindles or if their various agencies are privatized by government.
The State government has denied these claims.
Rather for sometime it has been having a running battle with Labour Leaders over unpaid wages and salaries of workers in Imo State. Pensioners are also groaning over non- payment. Some pensioners complained to this newspaper that despite series of verification exercises, only a handful eventually got their pay.
This development has adversely affected the already poor economy of the State as cash squeeze pervades and the tiny business community continuously groans over scarce funds. The State has no industries to absorb over 1 million graduate unemployed youths.
The Government has however assured that it will build industries in 2016 in line with the campaign promises of the Governor as it has failed so far failed to outline plans on reviving 107 abandoned industries and factories in the State.
Last December, the State government said it has paid all workers their outstanding salaries. Governor Rochas Okorocha pointedly said he owed no worker in the State at least till December 2015.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in the State as at the time of filing this report has not disputed the Governor’s claims except some pensioners who said they are still owed several months. A pensioner (names withheld) of Imo State Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) alleged that they were only paid 3 months of their 32 months pension arrears.
Imo State received N26 billion naira from the bail- Out funds released to some States of the federation by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to cushion the huge wage bill of workers. Despite some payments made to some workers; many said they never felt the impact of the bail- out funds.
The issue of downsizing the State workforce is said to be predicated on the fact that the civil service system is replete with “ghost workers”
Okorocha has not said he will retrench any worker, but indications have continued to emerge that the retrenchment of some workers looms in the State. Whether it is real or imaginary fears remains unknown.
Kelechi Okpaleke, Okorocha’s Special Adviser on Public Enlightenment and Strategy, had said in December in an interview with Owerri based private radio station, HOT FM, that Imo State has the highest workers wage bill in the entire South East and South- South.
He said workers salaries consume a huge chunk of the already dwindling monthly allocation to the State from the Federation Account and the government will not relent in ensuring that those who were not properly employed are sacked.
Okpaleke added the State workforce is over-bloated. He was silent if any worker will be retrenched to free capital to carry out the much trumpeted industrial revolution planned by the State government, but stated that those who were afraid to sign the alleged “Pay Off Forms” are indolent workers, those who were employed through the backdoor and those who falsified their age.
He said the forms were not “Pay Off forms” as erroneously postulated by some workers , but frowned at discrepancies the government noticed when it payed workers their salary arrears in December.
A top government aide told this newspaper that the issue of retrenchment of any worker in the State workforce should not worry any genuine civil servant.
“Those who are scared of retrenchment if there is any plan like that, are those who are ghost workers or who came to the civil service through the back door.
“Imo State cannot afford to be spending about 80% of its monthly allocation on workers’ salaries. No State will survive or carry out projects if its workforce consumes almost all the money that comes to it
Some workers who spoke to INNONEWS.COM said though there is no official communication from relevant sections of the government on plans to downsize the workforce, but argued that they could feel it from the “body language” of the State government.
One of the workers who spoke on condition of anonymity said there are strong indications that downsizing of the workforce is imminent. He recalled the planned privatization of some government agencies and parastatals in early 2015 as clear signals that the government is not ruling out downsizing the State workforce.
Mid last year, the State labour Union which defends the rights of workers refused plans by the Okorocha administration to employ private hands to run government ministries. This led to total disagreement between workers and the State government.
The government however denied any plan to privatize agencies and parastatals after listing over 100 government- run agencies that are moribund, not self sustaining and has continued to suck away the lean resources of the State. Okorocha had told journalists last year that government is only employing private hands to manage the affairs of the agencies with the intention of kick starting it back to life.
Most of the parastatals in the State were said to have been instructed to devise measures of being financially self sustaining in 2016.
Vitalis Ajumbe, a Commissioner designate and Chairman, Interim Management Committee of the state run Orient TV and Radio at an event organized in his honour by workers of the media outfit said plans will be intensified by the outfit to be self sustaining.
He said “We face a very bleak future in Nigeria. The price of crude oil in the international market has continuously affected the monthly allocation to Imo State from the federation account. Perhaps, next year,(2016) it may come to the point the State may not receive monthly allocation.
“Therefore, it is important we become self sustaining from next year if we must pay salaries” he said.
Some workers alleged that in the “pay off forms” issued to workers before they were paid their salary arrears, they were asked in the forms to consent to plans by government to privatize in the future. This was said to be one of the thorny issues that fueled suspicion between the State government and workers last December.
However, some stakeholders in the State have been calling for restraint on the part of the State government if it has such plans to downsize the workforce of the State.
Speaking to newsmen in Owerri, one of the three senators from Imo State, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, appealed to the State government to reconsider its plan to retrench workers.
The Senator explained that though there is despair in the land over non- payment of salaries, the government should not sack any worker. He however advised that paid workers should not relent to pay their taxes
“I advise the governor not to retrench workers in the State” Anyanwu appealed
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