The alleged misdeeds the administration of Owelle Rochas Okorocha committed against civil servants in Imo State have continued to manifest weeks after he left office.
Trumpeta has stumbled on details how the immediate past governor who is now senator for Orlu zone, allegedly denied employees of the state government, their monthly salaries for four years.
The revelation was made by the workers when the new interim management committee of Adapalm led by Chief Ifeanyi Nnadi made its maiden visit to the complex on assumption of office.
According to the details obtained from workers who expressed happiness at the coming of the new committee to take over the affairs of the oil palm industry, the immediate past administration were unable to pay them a dime since 2015 January.
According to the workers led by the union leaders, when the Okorocha administration brought Roche, a private investor, to manage the firm, things turned awry for the staff as they were set aside in the running of the company. In 2015, January, based on State Government directive after they had embarked on series of protests to lament neglect, about 450 workers were sent to the Ministry of Agriculture where a promise was made to them that they will be paid from proceeds of Adapalm, otherwise known as Imo Palm.
The workers revealed that the assurances of the Okorocha government was not met with action as they were not paid until his regime elapsed. Even when Roche had disagreement with Okorocha and left, their successor, VTV, another private investor couldn’t also pay them.
A union leader who preferred anonymity revealed that from that 2015 till date, no form of salary was paid as the workers suffered in penury with many dead as a result of hunger. The workers revealed that it was only the coming of the Ihedioha administration that they were released to return back to Adapalm.
Addressing the various stakeholders including the returnee workers, landlords and youths of the area, the interim committee chairmen, Chief Nnadi said that it is the desire of the state government under Ihedioha to revitalize Adapalm under the Rebuild Imo State Program.
Chief Nnadi disclosed that the downstream sector that once fed the economy of the state is in a sorry state to warrant immediate action. Nnadi who led the committee members on facility tour sought for the cooperation of the workers and host communities to rehabilitate this ailing firm. He said that the new administration is turbo charged to right the wrongs of the past and won’t allow distractions to stop the rebuild process in the state.
