The fate of over 20,000 local government staff in Imo State now hangs on the balance following the recent issuance of queries to many of its 27 LGA Workers by the State Government.
On resumption of work Tuesday, January 10, 2017, many staff of the Imo State Local Government system were handed letters of query most of which were based on poor staff attendance to work.
A staff of the Local Government system who craved anonymity hinted Nigeria Newspoint on the development, describing the query as a ‘Surprise New Year Gift’ from the Rescue Mission government of Governor Rochas Okorocha. He alleged that the development could be part of a plot to downsize the Local Government system in the state.
The source noted that the queries issued to most of them were based on attendance to work.
According to him, authorities of the local governments and the Imo State Government were pretending not to know that there was a period last year (2016) and even 2015 when salaries were not paid for nearly five months, noting that most of them narrowly escaped death via starvation as they could no longer fend for their families let alone borrowing money to go to work on daily basis.
Inspite of that pitiable condition, many of them were still making effort to go to work, he lamented, even as he called on the state government and authorities of the 27 LGAs in Imo to give governance a human face.
Meanwhile, reactions have trailed the mass issuance of queries to LGA staff in Imo as some Imolites condemned any move to sack workers in this period of recession.
Confirming this development, the Imo State Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, Comrade Ndubisi Uchehara told Nigeria Newspoint that the queries issued to his members bordered on rate of attendance and that NULGE leadership in the state has already started talks with the Imo State Government with a view to making the government rescind the decision.
Comrade Uchehara further expressed hope that his discussion with Governor Okorocha whom he said met him, Wednesday would be fruitful and he therefore called for calm among his members.
