The loudest noise makers in Rivers State Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC and her counterpart, Trade Union Congress, TUC have remain dumb as civil servants become volatile and are now agents of curses against the State Government.
Who is fooling who? Who drags the state to anarchy? Does Rivers State Government lacks accountants and statisticians? What is going on in Rivers State? The centre can no longer hold, what happened to our monthly savings of N1b? O God, help us.
Except by God’s intervention it is now that Rivers State is drifting into anarchy as predicted by its Chief Executive some few weeks ago during the adoption of my dean the Rt. Revd Ignatius Kattey.
The many inflammatory statements by the parties in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has kept the State in an atmosphere of public disorder where every individual including those without an iota of the truth on what the problems are, could get up and voice out whatever he/she likes.
Indeed, it is quite unbelievable and disheartening that civil servants in the state are no longer keep abreast of salaries they earn, since there is no fixed data.
Recently, the PDP in Rivers State has accused the TUC and NLC of doing their master’s biding as they rose to defend the dispersal of the touts who gathered at the State Liberation Stadium in the guise of newly recruited teachers.
Other than TUC and NLC to protest civil servants unfair treatment in the state, they have dabbled into partisan politics at the expense and detriment of the civil servants.
The way and manner in which civil servants are going about their salary deductions in the state if caution is not applied may lead to a state of anarchy because the explanations of over payment was never accepted by workers at all but prompted the questions of whether, there are accountants or statisticians in the state or not? What happened to the monthly savings of one billion naira (N1b) each for the state? What are the duties of the state Accountant General, Commissioner for Finance and the various Directors of Finance in the relevant ministries in the state? It is worrisome for one to hear that in a state such as Rivers, that salaries were over paid hence the deductions of workers salaries. An excuse that even the juvenile could not accept.
Some workers on Grade Level 8 who are entitle to little above Eighty thousand (N80,000) depending on their steps are now going home at the end of the month with little above N40,000 and N60,000, some had cut pay between N30,000 and N51,000. The least in the series was about Eleven thousand (N11, 000).
Is TUC and NLC executives in the state aware of these development and remain mute over it? One should have thought it wise, that the various labour unions in the state ought to have investigated widely to ascertain the truth behind the gathering of the purported 13,000 persons at the Liberation Stadium before going into any action, but their actions are pregnant with uncertainties and ill-feelings. Little wonder they were accused.
Irrespective of the number at the Liberation Stadium, the Rivers State Government, through her Education Ministry should tell Rivers people the truth on the real number of teachers they have recruited rather than over blowing the figure.
There is a missing link, how did the Ministry dispatched the employment letters to the bearers and what have they seen in that process that have informed their decision to gather the poor citizens at the stadium for an ordinary posting letters, whoever is in charge of the ministry should forthwith desist from tempting Rivers people because there are nemesis in whatever we do.
How do they intend to serve 13,000 persons at the stadium same day, if at all they were sincere.
Moreover, the number of people at the stadium was far less below 5,000 not to mention 10,000; how could civil servants who ought to be society moulders now metamorphosed into deceivers, ingrates and thorn in the flesh of the society. This should be condemned by all.
Rivers State Civil Servants who were once Gov. Amaechi’s fan irrespective of the degree of offenses against the citizenry, have now turn against the governor when they were seen pouring out their hearts against the Governor.
A visit to the State Secretariat complex within the week will send a strong signal to an average citizen of the state that the centre could no longer hold.
Civil servants are washing their dirty linen outside without confirming who is a visitor to the secretariat but voiced out their anger in the open heaven.
Whether you like it or not, if curses and abuses would kill, then certain highly place individuals in Rivers State Government may not survive their retirement age. But it must however, be reminded that curses are dangerous especially in circumstances like this in the state, caution need to be applied by our so called highly placed officers for posterity sake.
It is incumbent on the State Government to regularize their pay structure in a way that civil servants in the state would be acquainted with their take home against the present situation where no one knows his/her salary vote irrespective of the level.
If the salary structures are duly harmonized with better intention, workers in the state would have the reason to smile again than rendering curses on those in authority. If this is done, it will avert anarchy in the state. ###
With James Mgboineme
Jamesprojectgodwin@yahoo.com.
