By PEREZ BRISIBE, Ughelli

The Delta State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has taken a swipe on the Governor Ifeanyi Okowa led administration for allegedly slashing the minimum wage of civil servants in the state describing it as “demonic, unconscionable, anti-people and a calculated attempt to further subject civil servants to dehumanization.”

The party also asked civil servants in the state to put the Okowa-led administration on its toes by not allowing the state government to allegedly undermine their well-being.

Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Mr. Goodluck Ofobruku, had disclosed that suspension of the minimum wage payment which will take off from July, will last for six months and will affect workers in the state from grade level seven to 17.

Condemning the decision by the state government, the APC in a statement by its publicity secretary, Sylvester Imonina, accused some members of the NLC in the state of allegedly harbouring ulterior motives with the state government without comprehensive consultation not minding the adverse effect same would have on workers.

The party in the statement said: “Presently, it is only Delta State Government that has conceived and made public the idea of salary reduction of civil servants in the South-South despite the fact that the state is more financially viable than other states in the region.

“We, therefore state without any air of equivocation that if states in Nigeria are towing the line of salary reduction for its civil servants, Delta State should not be among in view of what comes into the state coffers on a monthly basis which is about four times what some other states get.

“Reduction of worker’s salaries particularly at this period of the pandemic is satanic and should be rejected by civil servants and all persons of goodwill in the state.” (Vanguard)