Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, has appealed to workers in the state to exercise patience with his administration as it works towards ensuring payment of salary arrears owed by the previous administration by the end of June.
Governor Otti made the plea in Umuahia, recently during a thanksgiving reception held in honour of newly inaugurated National Assembly member, Hon. Obi Aguocha, representing Ikwuano-Umuahia Federal Constituency.
The Governor explained that the delay in salaries and arrears of pensions he promised is as a result of fictitious figures and numbers that cannot be confirmed but assured that at the end of this month, confirmed salaries and arrears of pensions shall be paid.
Otti who restated that the debt left by the immediate past administration was enormous put the total indebtedness left behind by his predecessor, “at the last count”, at over N200 billion, saying it is a debt the state has to pay.
“I must assure you that we will deal with them (debts). By the end of this month we would start paying confirmed salary arrears.
“You also know that a lot of our elderly people, who have retired, have been owed several years of pension arrears. We promised during our campaign that we were going to defray the arrears. We will start as soon as possible.
“What is holding us is that we also found out that there is a lot of fictitious figures and numbers that cannot be confirmed,” the Governor explained.
Otti said his government has embarked on proper verification of workers in the state civil service prior to the commencement of payment of the outstanding salaries.
“So we have started with the forensic audit to ensure that we will be paying the right people. We plead with you to exercise patience and understand with us as we work to make Abia State a better place,” the Governor appealed.
The host and member representing Ikwuano/Umuahia Federal Constituency , Hon. Obi Aguocha,in his speech earlier, thanked God for the opportunity to be elected to represent his people and the success of his inauguration.
While pledging not to his disappoint his people, Aguocha saluted the Governor, Dr. Alex Otti , members of the Labour Party and people from all walks of life for coming to identify with him.
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