Government Of Imo State
Press Release
Certain Decisions The State Government Has Taken
Following the general ugly economic situation in the country at the moment which has made all the states in the country to embark on certain measures to ensure that their respective states do not get entrapped in their socio-economic lives, the Imo State Government has, in the same token taken some decisions to ensure that the state remains on the fast lane of development and progress.
To also ensure that the workers in Imo State were not taken unawares on these decisions, the Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, with other top government functionaries on Friday September 25, 2015 met with the leaders of the organised Labour Union in the state for several hours.
At the end of that meeting, though there was no written or signed agreement between that state government and the Labour Union Leaders, but the governor succeeded in explaining to the workers’ representatives the decisions the government had taken in the corporate interest of Imo people.
Already, the government has concessioned the managements of the parastatals that had remained unproductive under successive administrations in the state, and the essence of concessioning their managements was to inject life into them and make them productive and service – oriented to justify their existence.
On the fate of the workers in the concessioned parastatals, the government would pay them the outstanding salaries without delay and has offered them the options of either been paid – off or posted out of the parastatals since the establishments require fresh blood and fresh ideas.
The government has also decided to adjust the bloated or padded salary structures that exist among the Health, Judiciary and Assembly workers. For instance, the government could not understand why a level 13 officer in other ministeries would be having less than one hundred thousand naria as salary while an officer of the same level in the ministry of justice would be having more than three hundred thousand naria.
The government could not also understand why civil servants working in the House of Assembly should be having hazard allowance, ward robe allowance, and other allowances their counterparts in other ministeries and outfits do not enjoy.
The government has equally decided to make comparism of salaries it pays to workers in the state with what other states in the South-East pay, with the resolve to adjust either upward or downward depending on the findings at the end of the exercise.
Again, as a result of the economic challenges across the nation, further promotions in the state civil service have been temporarily suspended. When the situation improves, government won’t hestiate to re-open the doors of promotions to deserving workers in the state.
The government also descovered that some workers in the state used their positions to hike their salaries above the approved scale. The government has therefore decided to recover all the money paid in excess.
On the issue of pension, the government has decided to first of all clear pensioners whose pensions are fifty thousand naira and below, for the seventeen months, while those whose pensions are above N50,000, will follow. And alarmed by the level of fraud in the previous pension payments, the traditional rulers will now authenticate pensioners in their individual domains for prompt payment once that is done.
The government has taken all these steps to inject sanity into the system and fast – track development in the state.
Sam Onwuemeodo
Chief press secretary to the governor
