Governor Hope Uzodinmaof Imo state Thursday accused the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Mr. Joe Ajaero of politicising labour issues in the state.
Fielding questions from State House correspondents after receiving the All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial flag from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ahead of the November 11, 2023 gubernatorial election, the governor said the NLC president failed to differentiate between labour issues and his interest in local politics.
The governor said the state government under his leadership was not owing salaries as alleged by the labour leader.
He said since he assumed office in January 2020, the state government has been up-to-date on salary payments.
“When I came into Imo state as the governor on January 15th 2020, from 2020 January till date, there’s no month we have not paid salary before 30th. The situation is that before this time, I thought that the trade union is a democratic entity that allows the opinion of people.
“I don’t pay federal civil servants, I only pay Imo state civil servants and I challenged any Imo state civil servants to come out and say that between 2020 January 15th till date, that he has not received salary in any of the months.
“What has happened in this ugly incident that the national president of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) is from Imo state and has not been able to demarcate the difference between being a national leader of an organisation and an interested party in local politics. But God will manage the situation,” he said.
Reminded that the workers were accusing him of reneging on January 2021 agreement aside the backlog of salaries and this might impact his re-election, the governor said: “Well, I still repeat, there’s no worker in Imo state…recall I came in January 2020 and by March, I started paying minimum wage of N30,000 that had been lying there, that previous leadership couldn’t pay. By December 2020, I paid 13th month, the first time on the history of Imp state civil service and I have maintained continuously this 13th month payment as an incentive.”
