Abia Re-absorbs Over 2000 Sacked Imo Indigenes

 

Abia Re-absorbs Over 2000 Sacked Imo Indigenes

Abia Re-absorbs Over 2000 Sacked Imo Indigenes

The Abia State government has so far re-engaged into its civil service, about 2,700 indigenes of Imo State who were disengaged from the service some years ago following a decrease in the state’s revenue profile.

Though the decision to recall the disengaged workers was taken about October last year, the implementation of the policy has just been put into effect.

Confirming this in his office, the state head of service, Chief Godson Adiele, said majority of those reabsorbed were from Imo State, which also had the largest number of those affected by the disengagement exercise.

According to him, 2,700 Imo indigenes out of about the 4,000 non-indigenes disengaged from the state civil service in October 2011 were reabsorbed in the first phase of the recall.

He said those reengaged in the first phase cut across all cadres and that their salaries have not only started running but that their entitlements have been restored.

The disengagement policy, which drew flaks from many groups mainly from the states affected, he said was carried out to reduce the financial burden on the state, occasioned especially by the implementation of the minimum wage introduced by the federal government, which the Abia State government implemented to the letter.

The head of service who spoke to journalists in his office added that the burden was heavy because of the dwindling internally generated

revenue (IGR) revenue accruing to the state and that government decided to reverse it because the financial standing of the state has

improved enough to accommodate their salaries.

Corroborating on the problem of poor IGR at the time the policy was introduced, executive chairman of Board of Internal Revenue (BIR),

Mr Udochukwu Ogbonna said that IGR had been a source of worry to Governor Orji since he took over the mantle of leadership in Abia State.

“He is worried that the state is not making enough money despite its huge potentials.

Over the years the IGR floated between N150 million and N200 million monthly, due largely to many sources of leakages”, he said.

The governor tried to curtail this by introducing a number of measures to block the leakages. These included the adoption of e-payment system of revenue collection, disengagement of revenue agents and myriads of task forces operating in the state.

He also went further by deploying a fully automated system of revenue collection. He said that the pay direct system of revenue collection was already paying off as according to him, the state netted over N346 million between February and September last year from driver’s license and motor registration alone; an unprecedented record in Abia State.

The revenue boss assured that with the deployment of the new technology in revenue collection the state was optimistic that its IGR would continue to increase.

Against the backdrop of his magnanimity and concern for Igbo unity and progress, Governor Orji approved the recall of those non-indigenes who were disengaged especially as he discovered that most of them were yet to be absorbed by their home state.

It was gathered that while some other states reabsorbed some of their disengaged indigenes, Imo State, which had the highest percentage was not able, for about two years to reabsorb its over 2,000 indigenes affected in the exercise.

Frustrated by the unfulfilled promises by Governor Rochas Okorocha, those affected workers from Imo State yet to be reabsorbed staged a mild protest in Owerri Imo State capital during the Workers Day celebrations to demand for re-engagement into the Imo civil service.

Governor Okoroacha was quoted to have apologised on behalf of Governor Orji to the disengaged Imo indigenes from the Abia civil service. The action of the governor did not go down well with his Abia State counterpart who accused him of being insensitive to the plight of his citizens who were yet to be re-engaged.

The chief press secretary to the Abia State governor, Mr Charles Ajunwa, while briefing the press in Umuahia recently said Okorocha’s statement was unfair to Governor Orji and the state government. Ajunwa said it was wrong for the Imo State governor to use the occasion of May Day to castigate his Abia State counterpart rather than showing gratitude.

Orji he said had shown love and compassion to Imo citizens in Abia, adding that “although Abia indigenes were the first to be disengaged by sister states, the Abia State government were able to reabsorb them without complaint”. He explained that Governor Orji unlike his counterparts in the past wrote to his colleagues in the South-East before disengaging non-Abians in the state civil service, explaining to them the reasons for his planned action.

Ajunwa stated that with an increase in its internally generated revenue profile, the Abia State government rescinded its earlier decision and had been striving to reabsorb all those affected by that decision. He challenged Okorocha to reabsorb Imo indigenes yet to be re-engaged by the Abia State government just like Orji did to Abia citizens when they were sacked rather than playing to the gallery.

In his reaction to the reengagement, Abia State NLC chairman, Comrade Sylvanus Eyeh commended Governor Orji for his benevolence. and advised the reabsorbed workers to redouble their dedication to work to show their gratitude to Abia state government.