The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU of the Abia State University, ABSU, Chapter has faulted Governor Alex Otti’s claim that civil servants in the State have been paid.
Recall that Otti had on Friday during his monthly media chat with journalists in Umuahia, said his administration has paid the salaries of civil servants in the State.
The Governor claimed, that as a result of the priority his administration placed on the welfare of the State workers, he regularly pays their salaries and pensions as at when due.
He had said, “As of today (Friday), every member of staff of Abia State University has received his or her salaries up tot date. Anyone who had not received may be having issues with his or her bank.”
The Governor also promised that arrears of leave allowances would be paid.
He said, “My understanding of leave allowances is that they are due when you go on leave. We don’t have any problem paying people who are going on leave. If there are arrears that have not been paid, the state is going to deal with the new minimum wage and the leave allowances.”
But reacting to the Governor’s statement, the ABSU Chapter of the ASUU dismissed the claims by the Governor.
This was contained in a statement jointly signed by the ABSU-ASUU’s Chairperson, Chidi Mbah and Secretary, Victor Obisike.
In the statement the Union said, “Contrary to Mr. Otti’s claims, only a “handful of staff” has received their April salary. And “fewer have received their May salary.”
“Very alarming are instances where the few staff who received their May salary did not receive their April salary in the same bank.
“Painfully, some of the staff who received either April or May salary had unexplained deductions. Ranging between N8, 000 and N53,000 made on the paid one month salary,” the statement stated.
The union also added that the majority of the ABSU staff and the teaching staff of the Abia State University Teaching Hospital, whose salary accounts were domiciled with the university’s microfinance bank, have not received any payments for either April or May.
According to the union, the development had “caused significant financial strain, panic and uncertainty among the staff.”
“With this staggered payment system, the unions in the university cannot ascertain the status of their check-off dues. Which are usually deducted at the source of payment.
“Furthermore, it is important to highlight that our 11 months outstanding salary arrears remain unpaid. Despite repeated assurances, not a single month of these arrears has been settled,” the union stated.
The ABSU-ASUU, therefore, urged the State Government to stop politicizing payment of its staff salaries. This, it said, impact on their health, families’ needs and other issues such as workers’ productivity.
The union added that, “It is imperative that the Government acknowledges the financial hardships faced by the university staff. It, therefore, urged the Abia Government to take immediate action. And to ensure that all outstanding salaries, including the arrears, are paid promptly and in full.”
The union appealed to Governor Otti “to quickly look into this issue by calling the attention of the concerned officials. It maintained that this is important so as not to truncate his good intentions for the state workforce.”
source: Premium Times
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