…group from the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) met with the Accountant General to finally put to rest further confusion in the complete disbursement of payment of salaries as promised – some will get full arrears completely paid in September 2023
By Njoku SaintJerry A.
What started as a campaign promise by the Alex Otti led Labour Party government is becoming a reality as workers and pensioners owed over 40 months salary and pension arrears began to receive regular monthly salaries that has been a luxury all through the PDP administration and made worse under the past Okezie Ikpeazu administration
Government workers in Abia state began to heave a sigh of relief with the emergence of the Otti’s Labour party government bringing to an end sad the stories of perennial debts and pension arrears owed civil servants by previous administrations. Before now, unpaid salaries and pension arrears accumulated over the years of PDP experimental leadership and change of batons has left the civil service structure in Abia state in a very disorganized situation.
Despite every attempt passionately put in place by the Alex Otti government to make sure that all workers genuinely engaged by the Abia state government are considered under the ongoing harmonized payroll scheme, pockets of complain of some receiving payments as promised while others are not receiving despite having undergone every administrative bureaucracy including the verification exercise continue to hit the airwaves.
Suddenly, the Oppositions and members of the failed PDP administration found a tool to create distractions by influencing mob actions and protests perhaps to bend the will of the current administration to carry on with the dysfunctional state they met the civil service structure all to no avail then they decided to peddle falsehood to the point of involving the clergies from the Anglican communion, embellished in religious sentiments they took to the social media to deceive the ignorant public.
However, a group from the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) penultimate last week Friday met with the Accountant General to finally put to rest those grey areas causing further confusion in the complete disbursement of payment as promised. The meeting which provided a platform to get first hand information of all complains and confusion emanating from the ongoing exercise highlighted steps to successful conclusion of the exercise and gave assurance to the fulfillment of the promises made by the Governor Alex Otti administration
Take-Aways from the meeting include;
All those who have not been paid due to BVN duplicate and wrong account numbers would be paid in September 2023 and at the normal payment date, some will get their full arrears completely paid
Secondly, the committee in the Account sections will reprocess August salary to know while some people got paid while others did not get paid
Also all workers should take note that Salaries are paid with Biometric, therefore, if you have not been thumb printing, the earlier you begin the better for you and start now
Those who appeared in “do not pay” list as a result of Biometrics can only be cleared by the Biometric contractor.
To get further help regarding the Biometric Contractor, a Help Desk has been made available at the office of the Accountant General for inquiries regarding Biometric Contractor or any related issues.
More so, all workers should note that the ongoing verification is for future use. however, there is a time line to close it hence if you have not been verified, take steps to be verified
Henceforth no use of Joint Account to collect salary, if you are in this category meet the OC Payroll for change of account number.
Finally, no staff should use his or her account number to collect pension for someone even if you are next of kin
For the benefit of doubt the Help Desk at the Office of the Accountant General is open for further clarification regarding salaries.
