By peter uzoma
Unless there is a divine intervention, a likely hood of an impending face off is in the offing between the local government area staffers in Imo state under the umbrella of Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) and the state government over the production of compulsory bi-metric identity cards for local government workers in the state.
The workers it was learnt are not comfortable with the production of the ID cards and therefore threatening fire and brimstone because of the pains of the production cost which they will bear. It is also believed that at the end of the day,` the production of the bi-metric identity cards will fetch the state government a total of seventy-five million naira.
Trumpeta investigation revealed that many LGAs such as Owerri-West, Mbaitoli, Ikeduru and Owerri Municipal have been reacting negatively to the said production which they said would attract negative complaints to the state governor, for Owelle Rochas Okorocha.
The production, Trumpeta understands is a deal between the state NLC, a contractor and the state government during which workers from grade level 0 to 6 will pay one thousand naira, level 7 to 10 will have to pay two thousand, five hundred naira, which shall be deducted from their salaries, while workers from level 12 and above will cough out three thousand naira at a swoop.
Some workers who complained to Trumpeta wondered why government would embark on such frivolities in the production of the bi-metric identity cards, leaving the funding of their recently released promotions wondering why government takes joy in tampering with little money remaining for them after all deductions.
Some brandished general identity cards which they have in the past, revealing that Ohakim’s regime produced ID cards freely for them just as Okorocha’s regime issued them cards on 29/11/11arguing.
“Why the deduction now that workers in the state are facing serious economic crunch”. The workers fumed at the labour for conniving with government to rip off workers for a card with street value of N500.
In a telephone discussion, the chairman of the State Joint Negotiation Council Comrade Coleman Okwara denied knowledge of the biometric identity card production while all attempts to get the state NULGE chairman Chief Ambrose Onuoha’s comments failed.
However, in another telephone interview, the NLC state chairman, Dr Reginald Anyadike, admitted that civil servants in the state have done theirs adding that there is a security reason behind the exercise which he refused to disclose.
