BY Tony Edike

ENUGU- Enugu State House of Assembly, Tuesday, condemned the forceful transfer of non-indigenes in Abia State civil service back to their home states, saying the burden of the N18,000 minimum wage, which had become a national issue, was not a justifiable reason for laying off the workers.

The legislators urged Abia State Government to retain the services of Enugu indigenes in its workforce in order to encourage mutual and sustainable corporate co-existence and peace in the South-East zone.

In a motion brought by the Leader of the House, Sunday Ude-Okoye, which was unanimously endorsed by the members, the lawmakers called on both Abia and Enugu State governments to set up a committee to discuss the modalities of absorbing their respective workforce in terms of civil servants who are not indigenes of each state.

Urging Abia State Government to reinstate the displaced workers, since virtually all the states in the South-East and beyond are represented in Enugu State civil service, the lawmakers, however, alerted the South East Governors’ Forum on the likely dangers and inconveniences that might result from the retaliatory actions of other states in the zone.

Moving the motion which he brought under a matter of urgent public importance, the House leader noted that Enugu State indigenes affected by the action “do not in any way merit the manner Abia State government had thrown them out of their workforce, hiding under the canopy of four unacceptable, irrational, reiterating and unconstitutional reasons.”

He pointed out that Enugu State indigenes resident in Abia State before her creation had lived there very peacefully, contributed immensely in various areas towards her development and assisted in moving the state forward in terms of commerce, social and political growth.

Ude-Okoye added that their children had education and became gainfully employed by the state government.

He stated further that since the affected workers had spent their prime service period working for Abia State government and most of them were about to retire, “these great patriots deserve to be paid retirement benefits when they retire from Abia State government service.

“Disengaging these group of workforce is forcing Enugu State government to inherit payment of service rendered to another state.”

Calling on Abia State government to rescind its decision on the non-indigenes, the lawmaker described the action as a violation of section 42 (sub-section 1, 2 and 3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, which stipulates that “a citizen of Nigeria shall not be discriminated against.”

Speaking on the development, Speaker of the House, Eugene Odoh, called for caution, assuring that the matter would be taken before the South East Governors’ Forum in order to seek amicable way of resolving it.