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Anambra State governor, Chief Willie Obiano, and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), are currently on each other’s neck over the alleged illegal deductions of worker’s salaries by the State government.
The party through its leadership in the State asserted that the situation has subjected the workers in all grades to untold hardship, describing it as the height of insensitivity
Addressing reporters yesterday at the party’s secretariat in Awka, the State Chairman of the party, Sir Ndubuisi Nwobu, called on Governor Willie Obiano to reverse such injustice immediately
Nwobu said, ‘Anambra State under the incumbent governor, Chief Willie Obiano has practically been run underground.
“The level of infrastructural decay in our dear state is unprecedented and the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) controlled government is unperturbed.
‘It is on record that Anambra State Civil Servants belong to the class of least paid workers in Nigeria.
‘States across the country that are not as endowed as Anambra State have since upgraded the salaries and entitlement of their workers in line with the nation’s minimum wage policy.
‘It has come to our notice that deductions are being forcefully made from the workers’ meagre salaries for the recapitalization of Ndiolu Micro Finance Bank,’ he said.
However, in a swift reaction to PDP’s allegation, the State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, C Don Adinuba, described it as an example of profound ignorance driven by mischief by the PDP.
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Adinuba, stated that the PDP allegation was what late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo described as an act of talking more nonsense than said, calling it unfounded
The government said, ‘it’s an example of profound ignorance driven by mischief. Ndiolu Microfinance Bank is owned by the Workers and not the government
‘And the Workers decided to recapitalize by deducting a certain amount of money from their salaries, just the way NUJ deducts check off from Journalists in Nigeria,’ he said.
However, PDP maintained that it had it on good authority that the Head of Service (HOS) in a memo to the Accountant General (AG) and Secretary JAAC on March 8, 2021, instructed that certain percentages of the workers’ salaries be deducted as their contributions to the stabilization of the troubled bank.
‘The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was said to have directed all Microfinance banks in the country to raise their capital base before 30th April.
‘We at PDP are genuinely concerned about the welfare of Anambra State Civil Servants who are coerced to part with certain percentages of their meagre ‘ take-home salaries.
The amounts the PDP said were being deducted ranged from levels 1-3=500 naira, 4-7=1,300, level 8=2,300, 9-10=2,850, 12-13=4,500,15-16=5000.
‘One begins to wonder why the workers whose salaries were deducted from March will continue to be exploited for three months when the CBN’s directive was meant to be implemented before the 30th day of April 2021.
‘The development has raised more questions than answers and of course, has demonstrated the insensitivity of the APGA controlled government to the plights of Anambra workers whose real income have suffered depreciation because of the galloping inflation in the nation.
‘What a responsible and responsive government should be doing by now is to think of what to do to alleviate the suffering of the workers and not making things harder for them through illegal deductions from their salaries,” the PDP Chairman submitted.
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