Tension as war looms in Imo state
– The NLC Imo state chapter has opposed Governor Rochas Okorocha’s plans to reduce the official working days of civil servants
– Governor Okorocha suggests that the workers could use the two extra days to engage in any private business enterprise of their choice, particularly farming to augment their income
– But Labour leader, Comrade Austin Chilakpu, describes the governor’s proposal a slap on the Nigerian constitution and the biggest joke of the year
Plans by Governor Rochas Okorocha to reduce the official working days from five to three, for civil and public servants in Imo state is threatening to start a labour war.
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Governor Okorocha who proposed the reduction of the official working days in Owerri, suggested that the workers could “use the two extra days to engage in any private business enterprise of their choice, particularly farming to augment their income”.
He said “Ndigbo are not mainly civil and public servants but aggressive pursuers of their destinies. It is as a result of this that Igboland has low poverty rate in the country.“
However, the organized labour has described the governor’s plans as a violation of the constitution.
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According to Vanguard, the state Chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Comrade Austin Chilakpu, described the governor’s proposal as “reprehensible, a slap on the Nigerian constitution and the biggest joke of the year .“
“The Governor must be told in clear terms that he would be subverting the constitution of Nigeria, which he swore to uphold, by reducing the work days in the state,“Chilakpu said.
The labour leader said holidays and annual leave were built in to enable workers to take care of the needs the Governor is talking about.
He dismissed the governor’s claim that Imo pays the highest salary to civil servants in the country, adding that workers receive minimum pay like their counterparts in other states of the federation.
“There are states which pay higher than Imo State. It is most baffling why the Governor always borrow negative examples. The reduction of work days must be another way of justifying the inexplicable salary cut of workers,” Chilakpu said.
The ally of the governor, Alex Mbata, who is at the centre of the scam is alleged to have lodged the sum of N800 million released for capital projects at the Imo state University, (IMSU) Owerri in a fixed bank account so as to use the profit for personal purposes.
Contractors who are handling various infrastructural projects in IMSU are now being owed millions of naira after the funds meant to pay them were diverted for interest purposes.
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