By Ugochukwu Alaribe

Governor Alex Otti of Abia State has tasked the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, to help identify those padding salaries in the government payroll and ghost workers in the state civil service.

Otti, who appealed while receiving the state council of the NLC, noted that there are still bad eggs in the system who still engage in padding o f salaries and  other vices and urged the NLC to help  identify such people who are stealing from the government.

The governor stated that he has been creating a conducive atmosphere for the survival of the citizens as well as bringing back companies that left the state  due to infrastructural decay.

He said; “There are a lot of people who are collecting salaries but are not coming to work. My challenge to NLC is to help us, what they (ghost workers) are doing, they are stealing from you. You must take it as responsibility.

“My administration may not be sharing money as was the case in the past, but is busy creating a conducive atmosphere for survival of every Abian as well as bringing back all companies that left the  state due to infrastructural decay.”

The governor assured that his administration is looking at the issue of  the N35,000 wage award approved by the federal government for workers to implement it.

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Earlier, the state chairman  of NLC, Ogbonnaya Okoro, urged the governor to consider implementing the N35,000 wage bill approved for workers by the Federal Government, address the high-handedness of some government appointees against civil servants, offset arrears of  salaries ranging from 3-30 months owed various categories of workers by the previous administrations.

He also drew the attention of the governor to the verification of workers’ issue that has denied  some workers their salaries for about 7 months, and  alleged victimization of workers by Valumbra Flour mills, Aba, amongst other issues.

He also lauded Otti for keeping to his promise of paying salaries to Abia workers on the 28th of every month.

Vanguard Newspaper