Over one thousand civil servants on Thursday blocked the entrance gate to the Imo State Government House in Owerri.
The civil servants who arrived at the Government House in Owerri as early as 8am, stopped vehicles from going in and out of the premises.
The development caused panic at the Government House as security men manning the gate battled in vain to disperse the protesting civil servants.
Carrying their letters of appointments and postings, the resolute civil servants said that they were at the Government House to prove to the state governor, Hope Uzodinma, that they were not ghost workers.
The governor had said that those who had yet to receive their salaries up to date were ghost workers.
One of the protesting civil servants who simply identified his name as Celeb told journalists that the statement of the governor was “discouraging” to them.
He said, “We have come to puncture the statement of the governor that those who have not received their salaries update are ghost workers. That is why we have come with our letters of appointments and that of our postings.
“We are over one thousand here. There are others who have not received their salaries in the last one year among us here. For me, I have not been paid in the last eight months. It is unfortunate that the governor is owing us and he is still lying against us and painting us in bad colours.”
The protesting Civil servants said that they would not vacant the entrance gate of the Government House until they were paid.
Another civil servant who didn’t want his name in print said, “We will resume 7am here every day going forward until we are paid. I am a secondary school teacher and I have not been paid in the last 12 months. This is the 13th month. Since this governor assumed office, I have only received one month salary and that was January 2020. What kind of wickedness is this?. What kind of leaders do we have in this country?”
When contacted for comments, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on print media, Modestus Nwamkpa, promised to get back to our correspondent. He had yet to do so as of the time of filing this report.
Culled from The Punch
