Some of the new graduate employees recently employed into the Imo state civil service and the local government areas have expressed dissatisfaction over alleged under payment of salaries and a number of discrepancies observed to have been perpetuated against them by the Rescue Mission Government led by Gov. Rocha’s Okorocha.
The workers yesterday told Trumpeta in Owerri that the new employees have brought their grievances to his office as they complained that they don’t know the breakdown of their salaries, and, therefore, are not sure if the state government is actually paying them the correct wage which it claimed to be paying since they were employed.
Recounting their ordeal, the newly employed civil servants who pleaded anonymity, enumerated a number of discrepancies observed to have been perpetuated against them. These, they said include, not receiving their salaries as at when due and poor remuneration against the minimum wage.
They appealed to the Imo State governor through this medium to harmonize their salaries, noting that the under payment salary had made them “poorer” and argued that it should be reviewed “immediately.”
According to them “the newly employed staff deployed to Mbaitoli , Owerri North LGAs and few other LGA have not been paid for the first time as promised. They were rather offered half of their monthly salaries for December and November 2017 which they promptly rejected. Until last week, no effort had been made to correct the deliberate mistake and pay them appropriately and in accordance with their specific salary grade levels. While their salaries for November and December 2017 were still outstanding, the state government again offered the affected staff half salaries for January 2018, which they also rejected.
Trumpeta source at Mbaitoli and Owerri North LGAs attested to the fact that whereas similar categories of staff elsewhere have been properly graded and paid full salaries for the months, those posted to these two LGAs Mbaitoli and Owerri North and few others could not get full salaries indicating that there is discrimination, marginalization and outright stealing of staff salaries in the Imo State civil service. Observers of these obvious acts of cheating and deceit perpetrated by the Rescue Mission administration are wondering why the governor is still coveting the paltry salaries paid to fresh graduates.”
“Honestly, it is not pleasurable to work as a civil servant in Imo State. Workers are demoralized and the system has been badly bastardized. We have bad stories to tell, but this will be for another day,” they lamented.”
It will be recalled that recently the governor of Imo State ordered the recruitment of about 1,500 university and polytechnic or college of education graduates into the State Civil Service and the Local Government Areas.
