The All Progressives Congress (APC) has written to Governor Alex Otti of Abia State, urging that he improve the living circumstances of the state’s workers and retirees.
In the letter, the APC stated that some civil servants in the State were paid significantly less than the stipulated N70,000 national minimum wage benchmark per month.
The letter, signed by Uche Aguoru, the Publicity Secretary of the APC’s Abia State chapter, also urged the Governor to address pensioners’ unpaid gratuities, while criticising the delay in implementing the allowance increase promised to members of the National Youths Service Corps, NYSC, who are serving in the state.
The party stated:
“Also very disappointing was the widely published announcement made by your administration over a year ago, promising to increase the monthly allowance of NYSC members serving in the State to N50,000.”
However, in response to the APC letter, Abia State’s Labour Party (LP) leadership accused the broom party of spreading desperate and blatant lies about Governor Otti’s administration’s treatment of civil servants and pensioners.
The LP, speaking through its Publicity Secretary in the State, Iroegbu Emenike, said the days of pensioners dying in line for their pensions were finished in the state.
The LP said that members of the current APC in the State were among those who allegedly pushed the state back for nearly 30 years before Governor Alex Otti took office, and that the APC lacked the courage to write such an open letter to Governor Otti.
LP insisted that workers and retirees were receiving their pay cheques and monthly pensions, respectively.
The LP chastised the APC for the delay in executing the NYSC members’ monthly allowance pledges, claiming that the broom party failed to “understand that pronouncements by a Governor are followed by administrative procedures and policies before full implementation.”