During his inaugural address, Governor Alex Otti made a commitment to pay workers by the 28th of each month. Unlike his predecessor, who favored core civil servants, Otti promised not to discriminate between them and employees in parastatals and agencies.
This position was recently reiterated by his Special Adviser on Finance, Mr. Michael Agbara, in a press briefing. In a statement released on Tuesday by his Chief Press Secretary, Kazie Uko, Governor Otti instructed the Accountant General of the state to immediately begin paying the June salaries to workers. The workers in Abia, who had been on an indefinite strike due to a backlog of salary arrears from the previous administration of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, have been expressing their dissatisfaction with months of unpaid salaries.
Doctors at the Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH) in Aba were owed 24 months of salary by the previous administration, while their counterparts at the Health Management Board (HMB) were owed 13 months. The Chairman of the Joint Public Service Negotiating Council, Abia State Council, who is also the Chairman of the Nigeria Civil Service Union, Abia State chapter, Comrade M.I. Ekwenye, confirmed the payment to a correspondent and praised Governor Otti for fulfilling his promise. He urged the governor to continue until all outstanding arrears are cleared.
A state-owned newspaper staff member and a civil servant from the Ministry of Education confirmed that they had received their June salaries and expressed gratitude to Governor Otti for keeping his word. However, some workers who faced banking challenges had not received their payment alerts. The Ministry of Finance staff confirmed that they had been paid, but some employees in other ministries who had not been included in the ongoing biometric data verification exercise were yet to receive their salaries.
Governor Otti emphasized the need for worker verification to prevent ghost workers. The accumulation of salary and pension arrears was a significant factor in the defeat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led government, which had governed Abia State for over two decades, in the 2023 general elections.
