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During his inaugural address, Dr Alex Otti promised to pay May 2023 salary to ALL Abia Workers including those in LGAs, Parastatals and MDAs.
Hear him:
“Having laid the foregoing foundation, it gives me pleasure to announce that WITHIN THE NEXT FEW DAYS, we shall commence the payment OF MAY 2023 SALARIES AND PENSIONS TO ALL CIVIL SERVANTS AND RETIREES IN THE STATE. There shall be no more distinction between the so called core and non core civil servants.”
Now he has received a whopping N9.1bn as May 2023 allocation and not only did he sack Abia youths employed by Ikpeazu from January 2023 to May 2023, even after they presented valid waivers endorsed according to law, he has gone ahead to refuse to pay May 2023 salary of all workers in the State.
As of the time of writing this piece, only few Abia workers have received their June salary alert while a majority of others especially those in parastatals were not paid based on some unknown criteria even though Alex Otti claimed yesterday that he has paid Abia workers in order to avoid expected backlash from the public who he promised that salary will be paid to all and sundry on or before the 28th of every month.
His salary payment is not only audio but he has also failed to pay all the parastatals and agencies he hitherto criticized Ikpeazu for not paying directly from state consolidated revenue account, against the law and financial convention.
The most scary part is that nobody has heard or seen Otti’s manifesto or development plan. There are no ongoing projects of his administration whereas at this same time in 2015 Ikpeazu was already inspecting ongoing road projects started by his government. Otti’s only agenda is to witch-hunt and abuse Ikpeazu whom he blames for his two previous electoral defeats.
NOTE:
1. Abia State Government received N5, 429,502,416.04 as federal allocation for May 2023.
2. Abia State LGAs received N3,683,979,203.22
3. Total federal allocation to Abia State for May 2023 is N9,113,481,619.26
4. Total state wage bill for May 2023 is less than N2.1bn
5. Before leaving office, Governor Ikpeazu paid April 2023 salary of LGAs into the bank for release to workers but Otti stopped the payment after he assumed office. He is yet to release the money to the workers to date.
6. Instead of paying all workers, Otti has effectively sacked all workers employed through legitimate waivers from January 2023 to date, whereas he has money to pay them.
7. Otti is busy buying expensive exotic cars for himself, including 2023 models of Hilux, Lexus Sportage, and Bullet-proof Land Cruiser Jeep from the state funds, even while making public show of using Innoson branded vesicles. It is important to note that Governor Ikpeazu NEVER used a bullet-proof car throughout his 8-year tenure.
8. Otti is also actively destroying the state civil service and intimidating workers who dare disagree with him on any issue. Fear now pervades the state even under a supposed democratic government.
That’s our New Abia Report Card so far
Ikechukwu Iroha
