Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano, on Wednesday, has
heaped strong criticisms on state governors who are not bothered about their
inability to pay their state workers. He went as far as describing them as
irresponsible. He made the statement while speaking during the 2015 civil
service day celebration at the Jerome Udoji secretariat, Awka, the state
capital.
“No responsible government goes to sleep when its workforce is having sleepless nights,” the governor said.
Obiano said in the past one year, his administration had
demonstrated a great deal of sensitivity to the plight of workers: “A few weeks
after I was sworn in as your governor, we took bold steps to look into the
difficulties workers were having in transporting themselves to Awka from
various parts of the state.”
“Consequently, we provided four buses to convey workers from Onitsha, Otuocha, Nnewi and Ekwulobia to and from Awka. We also donated three buses to NLC, NUC and JNC.”
Reassuring the state workers of regular salaries despite the
dominant economic setbacks, the governor said: “Similarly, less than one year
into my administration, we increased workers’ salaries by 15 per cent.”
“I also assured you that I would do more if our Internally Generated Revenue grows. Interestingly, we increased salaries at a time when oil prices were crashing and governments were looking for bailouts.”
This has been termed as a great feat by the governor amidst
the financial difficulties the Nigerian government is facing with the fate of
most state governors dependent on the bail-out fund from the Federal
Government.
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