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The Abia state Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is issuing a clarion call to Governor Alex Otti, urging him to take swift and decisive action in settling the outstanding salaries of state workers, restoring their dignity and purchasing power.
The PDP points out that Abia state receives a substantial influx of funds from the Federal Allocation Accounts Committee (FAAC), more than enough to cover the overdue salaries and other critical expenses, making the delayed payments inexcusable.
The PDP is also pressing Governor Otti to come clean with a detailed breakdown of salary payments made to employees of Uturu, Abia State University, and other state workers, seeking transparency in the state’s payroll management.
The PDP is adamant that all outstanding salaries must be paid forthwith, without any further delay or excuse, to alleviate the financial hardship faced by the state’s workforce.
Through its acting state publicity secretary, Elder Abraham Amah, the PDP has entered the fray, recognizing ASUU’s strong pushback against Governor Otti’s reported claims of having settled university lecturers’ salaries, and implicitly questioning the veracity of those claims.
With a focus on the human impact, the PDP is encouraging the governor to shift from political grandstanding to genuine action, as the salary issues affecting its members have real-life consequences, including financial hardship and uncertainty.
The PDP maintains that ASUU’s rebuke of the Governor’s claims was entirely predictable, given the widespread apprehensions about Otti’s management of issues impacting lecturers and other critical stakeholders in Abia State’s workforce development.
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It said: “The attention of the Abia PDP has been drawn to a press release issued by the Abia State University branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, wherein it refuted claims by Governor Alex Otti, that he has cleared salaries of workers of the state-owned university and warned the Governor to stop politicizing the issue of salary payment to its members who are under heavy financial burdens.
“According to ASUU, the true position is that the salaries of ABSU workers are not up to date, and have been paid haphazardly, even as many are yet to receive many months’ salaries. Worse is the unexplained deductions ranging between N8,000 and N53,000 that were made at source from the accounts of the few who have received their salaries.
“The rebuttal by ASUU did not come to us as a surprise, and we know that Abians are not surprised too because they are getting used to the penchant of the present government to dish out lies couched in Adolf Hitler’s Nazi-style destructive propaganda to deceive the people.
“The Abia PDP is deeply concerned that the governor will resort to treating lecturers and other workers of an institution that produces the workforce for Abia and surrounding States with such levity and insensitivity.
“It has become typical of the Alex Otti administration to push out half-truths and unfounded lies just to defend its directionless policies and inability to fulfil the promises it made to the people during the campaigns. At every turn, the present government has shown itself as an enemy of workers. A few days after he assumed office, he sacked all the permanent secretaries, and more than 15,000 workers and embarked on endless verifications that have left many workers unpaid for more than one year.
“The case of pensioners is worse as he claimed to have cleared their 9 or 10 years pensions. The senior citizens deserve to be treated better and must not be lied to or used as an alibi to fritter the state’s resources.
“The case of the staff of Abia State University Teaching Hospital, ABSUTH, Aba, is more pathetic and we lack the superlatives to qualify their condition which has forced many of them, especially consultants to seek greener pastures overseas, leaving the remaining with huge workload that is not commensurate with their status and the epileptic payment of their salaries and allowances.
“As we write, ABSUTH is a shadow of itself as the caregivers are disenchanted with the Governor who has failed to fulfill his campaign promises.
