As the cash crunch it has been grappling with hits harder, the Abia State Government under the watch of Chief TA Orji has introduced a new system of sharing allocation from the federation account to local government areas in the state.

The strange balloting system was introduced in October last year, according to a Sun story. The paper quoted a source as explaining it thus: “It is known as ‘balloting’. What the new system entails is that whenever the state government receives local governments’ allocation from the federation account, the normal Joint account Committee ((JAC) meeting would be convened.

“At the said JAC meetings, lots would be drawn with ‘yes’ and ‘no’ written on them and put in a ballot box. Then the transition committee chairmen would be called upon to pick. Any local government which is lucky and the TC chairman picks ‘yes’, would get money for the workers’ salary for the given month but those that were not lucky and their chairmen picked ‘No’, would not be paid.”

The report said that the recent protest by workers of Bende Local Government Area was as a result of the JAC meeting held for the sharing of money for the salary of the council workers for the month of December, 2014.

“The TC chairman of Bende LGA, whose workers were still being owed four months’ salary in 2012, was said to have picked ‘No’ for the month of December. This simply translated that if they were not lucky during the next balloting which comes up in March this year, their December 2014 salary would not be paid even in May,” the source stated.

The report said that frustrated by the development, the workers marched from the Bende Local Government headquarters to Government House, Umuahia with the intention of seeing Gov Theodore Orji to intimate him of their suffering. But security men could not allow the workers who carried placards and sang songs of sorrow access to the seat of power.

One of the affected workers, who craved anonymity, lamented: “I have never seen this type of arrangement anywhere before. Local government workers have suffered so much under this government. The past administration in the state never owed us even one month salary, but now we are owed up to four to five months arrears of salary despite the fact that we now have enhanced allocation.

“What we cannot understand is this introduction of giving allocation accruing from the federation account through balloting when, in fact, funds allocated to each council by the Federal Government was enough to pay workers salary.

“We are talking about our December 2014 salary at this time and as we speak, we are not sure it will be paid in April. Our counterparts in other states were paid before Christmas while we celebrated on empty stomachs.”

Another worker said: “We’ve not been paid our December 2014 salary, not to talk of January salary. And from the look of things, we may not be paid the December salary by April because our council picked ‘No’ and our TC chairman is not helping matters by his lackadaisical attitude towards the plight of the workers.”

The workers are also demanding four months of arrears of salary they said they were being owed in 2012. In 2012, council workers embarked on a similar protest and carried a coffin round the streets of Umuahia, praying that those responsible for non-payment of their salaries should die.

The Sun said its investigations revealed that the new ‘Abia formula’ also applies to ministries and parastatals in the state. “The result is that while some are owed for three months, their counterparts have not received their salaries for six months,” it said.

On how the state got to this ugly pass, the report said: “It was learnt that the State Government is indebted to a bank, which receives its money at source, immediately the monthly allocations are made. So, according to sources, the state is virtually run with internally generated revenue.”

•Photo shows Governor TA Orji.

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