Protesting Imo workers shut down Owerri over unpaid salaries, allowances

Public servants in Imo Tuesday, shut down the state capital in Owerri to protest non-payment of their salaries and allowances by the State Government, as businesses and other activities were forced to close down over the demonstrations.

The angry workers, who spotted black attires, wept, sang and pronounced unprintable curses on the administration as they processed peacefully on the major streets of Owerri.

Some of the placards carried by the protesting workers read: ‘What have we done to Okorocha to deserve his punishment?’, ‘Governor Nebuchadenazar, pay us our salaries,’ ‘Our children are suffering,’ ‘Rochas, the Idi Amin of our time,’ and ‘We have never had it this bad’.

They were of the view that Governor Rochas Okorocha deliberately foisted the predicament on them, even as they prayed God to take absolute control of the situation.

“The judiciary staff are now owed for nine months and the end of their travails appears not yet in sight. We are really in for hard times in this state and the governor is not worried about our plight,” one of the workers said.

Some of the parastatals owed include the Water Board (12 months); Library Board (8 months); Due Process (9 months); Imo Marketing Board (10 months); Imo Specialist Hospital (13 months); Hospital Management Board (9 months), and Imo ADP (10 months).

When contacted, the State Chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr. Austin Chilakpu, explained that they were constrained to call the workers out following the unwillingness of the state government to ‘comply with all agreements reached at an earlier meeting.’

“The leadership of the NLC had, November 13, promised workers that the state government would pay their salaries on November 17, based on the agreement it entered into with labour but failed. This failure on the part of government made the workers to doubt the inability of the organised labour to fight for their rights,” Chilakpu said.