Abia State Government has stated that the delay in the payment of Local Government workers was a result of the absence of reliable data which made the government embark on a verification exercise but assured that the salary will be paid from Friday, 14th of July 2023.
Speaking on Thursday, the Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Ferdinand Ekeoma said the request by the government to treasurers of LG to provide payment schedules was refused.
“On the payment of Local Government Workers, I explained that the government had earlier requested the LG Treasurers to provide their payment schedules, but unfortunately, they refused. The request was premised on the discovery that the majority of workers in the LGs were being shortchanged either by way of non-payment of their salaries or by being paid half their salary at the end of every month.
Because there was no centralized and transparent payment process monitored by the state, those saddled with the responsibility of paying workers at the local government level resorted to all kinds of fraud including denial of salaries to those they do not like.
On realizing that the government wasn’t going to succumb to subtle blackmail and the threat of protest, the LGAs started cooperating. The government has therefore concluded plans to start paying LGA workers by Friday 14th July 2023.”
Mr. Ekeoma revealed that the target was to expunge ghost workers as it was discovered that those in charge were using ghost workers to draw multiple salaries at the expense of genuine workers.
“The Governor though authorized the Verification Exercise, but has reasoned that waiting for the conclusion of it before the commencement of payment could be harmful to the pensioners as many of them are facing severe economic and health challenges that require some funds to take care of, hence his directive that, not minding the losses that might be incurred by the government, the pensioners should be paid immediately while the verification exercise continues.”
Speaking further, Mr. Ekeoma revealed that the verification exercise for Abia Pensioners will enable the government to ascertain real pensioners and differentiate them from ghost elements used to shortchange the state and also enable a hitch-free and sustainable process of payment.
