The Ebonyi State Governor, Engr. David Umahi, has re-stated his determination to increase the salaries of workers in the state.
The governor spoke shortly after a closed door meeting with the National President of Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) and National Treasurer, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ibrahim Khaleel, in Abakaliki on Friday.
Governor Umahi said, “We informed him (Khaleel) that we are determined to increase the salaries of workers but we cannot be able to do that until we gather all the indices, and by the end of October we should be able to know how much we want to increase workers salaries.”
The governor maintained that his government was determined to pay the same salaries at both the state and local government levels, but noted that “it would impose additional burden on the government as the money coming to the local governments cannot carry it at once.
He appealed to the workers at all levels to assist the government in its quest to increase the state’s internally generated revenue, stressing that the state Executive Council had “met three times this week to re-evaluate our sources of IGR and implement same.”
The governor re-stated that his government would no longer negotiate with the Nigerian Labour Congress led by a federal worker in the state.
“We cannot recognize leadership that is not honest both to the workers and the government,” he stressed.
Eng. Umahi, who said that the government was poised to ensure that there was equity in the increase of workers’ salaries, disclosed his willingness to negotiate with the Junior Workers Association whom, he disclosed, had written to him disassociating itself from the NLC.
He similarly announced that he had received a letter from a faction of the congress which had gone to court to stop further deductions of its members salaries for Nigerian Labour Congress.
In his remarks, Khaleel, who was accompanied by the state Chairman of the NULGE, Comrade Lenard Nkah, said he came to see the governor over the salary crisis between the state government and workers, especially those in the local governments.
Khaleel also noted that he used the visit to “understand some salient issues that were not clear to us at the national headquarters of the union in Abuja. He disclosed that he was informed that the NULGE was not taking part in the on-going warning strike in the state.
The NULGE president, who said that he would report back to the National President of the NLC on his observations, appealed to the governor to grant them audience should there be any need for the national leadership of the congress to visit the state.
Meanwhile, governor Umahi has ordered the Commissioner for Youth and Sports in the state, Charles Akpuenike to go all out to both primary and secondary schools to harvest hidden talents and put the state on high sport pedestal.
Governor Umahi gave the order when Abakaliki, Ebonyi Urban Divine Mandate Sport Organisation visited him in his office.
The group used the opportunity to invite him to the forthcoming Akubaraoha Sports Festival scheduled for this month. It also presented him and the state’s Deputy Governor, Dr. Kelechi Igwe, with jerseys for the sports festival.
While thanking Akpuenike for his innovative and pro -activeness ,Governor Umahi,said his government would do everything possible to step up sporting activities in the state.
He said that his government had not contributed a kobo to the current efforts initiated by the commissioner for sport, Akpuenike.
Earlier, Akpuenike had explained that they were at Government House to invite governor Umahi to the opening ceremony of the sport festival which begins on September 17.
He said that the festival was being sponsored by individuals, who appreciate what the governor is doing in the state,and urged others not to always look for what they can get from the government purse but to be creative.
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