The leadership of the Abia State Chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress has tackled the state governor, Alex Otti, over the ongoing verification that has allegedly left many workers unpaid for over seven months.

This was disclosed in a circular dated May 11 and cited by our correspondent on Sunday.

It was signed by the state chairman, Okoro Ogbonnaya, and the state secretary, Emma Alozie.

The congress directed the state workforce not to submit themselves for the verification until issues surrounding the planned exercise are ironed out

“The State Council of Congress wonders on what happened to the first verification exercise in the state in which many workers are yet to be verified and their salaries withheld by government for over seven months now,” the circular read.

The directive followed an earlier official statement from the office of the Abia State Head of Service directing workers across ministries, parastatals, and the 17 local councils to submit themselves to online verification effective from May 10 to May 31, 2024.

The congress meanwhile questioned the rationale behind subjecting workers to another verification at a time when many have not been able to “collect their salaries for the upward of seven months due to hiccups arising from previous exercises.”

The NLC described the latest move by the government as smacking of insensitivity to the plight of the workers as well as a total disregard for labour in the state.

“That it is a slight for the government to again organise such a sensitive programme for our members without recourse to Labour which is the umbrella body for the workers.

“That labour views this exercise as retrogressive to the earlier vision of the governor to fish out ghost workers from the system.

“That another verification exercise a few months after the first one is anti-workers, considering the economic hardship the workers are going through with their meagre salaries,” the circular added.

The Labour leadership further condemned the decision of the government to conduct the exercise without consulting and or taking into confidence the NLC leadership in the state. (Courtesy, excluding headline, The PUNCH)

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