Abia State Government has pledged to recall all non-indigenes who were sacked from the state’s civil service by the immediate past administration of Chief TA Orji.

Governor Okezie Ikpeazu made the pledge at a meeting he held with the affected non-indigenes at Government House, Umuahia. He said that 3,000 of the affected workers have been recalled so far, while government is evolving systematic measures to reabsorb all the non-indigenes who affected by the disengagement exercise in 2011.

Ikpeazu assured that within the next 30 days, the number of the non-indigenes yet to be recalled would have reduced considerably.

According to the governor, his administration is prepared to re-absorb at a time, as many as it could pay but assured that government would not discontinue reabsorbing all those involved.

However, Ikpeazu lamented that the non-indigenes have allowed the issue of their disengagement to be politicised and reminded them that their loyalty should be to the government which pays them. He also encouraged them to key into the new vision of the state government and place the state above every selfish interest.

The governor enlisted their cooperation and urged them to be diligent.

In their remarks, some of the affected workers thanked the Governor for the meeting and pleaded with him to re-instate all the affected workers as they have suffered a lot of hardship.

Meanwhile, the governor has cautioned residents of Aba to desist from blocking the drains, warning that those caught in the act will face severe consequences.

He gave the warning while inspecting the on-going road projects in Aba.

Ikpeazu drew the attention of Aba people to the terrible experience of people in other states that have been submerged by flood, pointing out that but for the opening up of the drains in Aba, the city would have been badly affected by flood.

He acknowledged that the rains were hampering progress of the current road construction effort in the commercial city but he urged the contractors to redouble their efforts in order to complete the jobs on schedule.

Roads inspected by the governor included the old Umuahia road, Ukaegbu, Owerri-Udeagbala, Adventist Avenue and Omni Drive.

•Photo shows Gov Ikpeazu.

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