The governor issued the threat on Monday while addressing Anambra State workforce at the May Day Workers celebration held at Dr. Alex Ekwueme Square, Awka, the state capital.
The Governor of Anambra State, Chukwuma Soludo, has threatened to cut salaries of workers in the state who skip work on Mondays because of sit-at-home initially issued by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in the entire South-East region of Nigeria.
The governor issued the threat on Monday while addressing Anambra State workforce at the May Day Workers celebration held at Dr. Alex Ekwueme Square, Awka, the state capital.
The governor said that Monday sit-at-home had become an excuse for workers to avoid working on Mondays, warning that it could not continue.
Governor Soludo, who recently increased workers’ salaries by 10 percent said, “You cannot be working for just four days a week and earn full salaries. We must get back to working on Monday for the government. If we do not go to work, we must not get our full salary. We must be paid proportionally to the number of days we work. If we must continue not attending work on Monday, we must direct Saturday work.
“You must do your work and we cannot be working for 70 per cent and earn 110 per cent. We will cut your salaries when you fail to come to work on Monday.”
He added that the state government had been running on a N88 billion budget deficit for the past one year, explaining that the 2023 budget was predicated on N4 billion internally generated revenue every month but the state has been generating only N2 billion.
Governor Soludo further said that the state government was supposed to be getting N5 billion from the federal government but it was getting less.
He therefore called on the workers to braze up and work towards generating revenue to the state government in order to take care of the workers’ welfare and other state’s pressing issues.
Governor Soludo, who said that there was pressure on him to increase salaries and downsize the workforce, urged labour leaders to study the proposal.
He said that he had predicated his budget on N4billion Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), but he has at yet not been able to garner more than N2billion per month.
Soludo said: “Our Government is very transparent. The budget for this year is predicated on IGR of 4 billion naira per month, but we are actually making an average of 2 billion naira per month, operating with an 8 billion naira deficit for the past four months.
“You should be aware that anything pertaining to workers that this government has not done is currently not financially feasible”, he added.
Soludo also told the workers that while the organized labour makes up a small portion of the state workforce; Keke drivers, transporters, hawkers, traders, farmers, artisans, and self-employed individuals who are much more in number, are also workers.
He acknowledged the contributions from all workers, including public servants, civil servants, and all those employed by different agencies and parastatals, and thanked them for their support and solidarity.
He asked them to focus on the big picture while reiterating his unwavering dedication to their welfare, adding that —after all, he was himself once a teacher!
He said that despite declining revenue, pensions and gratuities inherited from his predecessor running into billions of naira, is currently being paid without prompting by his government
He added: “I made the decision and everybody who has retired under my watch has been paid their gratuity and pensions as and when due.
“Revenue is not increasing, so one of the pressures I faced when I took office was to review employee salaries and reduce the work force by half. The story wouldn’t be what it is today if I had yielded to it.
“I took into account, the country’s inflationary situation when I made the decision to raise workers’ salaries by ten percent.
“10,000 employees are currently receiving digital skills and it will continue until every Anambra worker is digitally trained,” Governor Soludo pointed out.
Speaking earlier, the Anambra State Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Humphrey Emeka Nwafor, praised the Governor for successfully recruiting 5000 primary/secondary school teachers and raising Anambra workers’ wages, among others.
Nwafor, however, called for mass recruitment of personnel to fill vacancies created by mass retirement from the service, worker training and retraining to enable them improve their skills and contribute meaningfully to the development of the state. Other demands nade by the Chairman include procurement of new buses for public servants and regular maintenance of existing ones, and the provision of low-cost housing for workers, among others.
Also, the Anambra State Chairman of the Trade Union Congress, Comrade Chris Ogbonna, stated that while the relationship between the Trade Union Congress and the Anambra Government has been cordial, is because when issues of disagreement arise, there is always an effort to settle them amicably
The ceremony was attended by the Deputy Governor, Dr Onyekachukwu Ibezim, Speaker of Anambra State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Uche Okafor, Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Solo Chukwulobelu, Head of Service, Barr. Theodore Igwegbe, National President, ASATU, Barr. Titus Akpudo, Principal Secretary to the Governor, Barr. J.P.C. Anetoh, Members of the Anambra State Executive Council, among others.
Credit” The Nigeria Lawyers