IMO WORKERS TOOK TO THE STREETS TO PROTEST NON PAYMENT OF SALARIES

Economic activities were brought to a halt in Owerri, Imo State when angry workers of parastatals and agencies took to the streets to demand their salaries arrears from government.
The protesters were dressed in black attires, wept openly as they marched through major roads and claimed Gov¬ernor Rochas Okorocha was responsible for their plight.
Some of the protesters, who spoke with Daily Sun, said they decided to wear black to show solidarity with some of their colleagues from the judiciary who died on Monday out of frustration due to nine months salary arrears…
Investigation indicated that departments of state parastatals owed salary backlog of salary include Water Board (12 months), Library Board (eight months), Due Process (nine months), Imo Marketing Board (10 months), Imo Specialist Hos¬pital (13 months), Hospital Management Board (nine months) and Imo ADP (10 months).
State Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Austin Chilakpu, ex¬plained that workers staged the protest because they doubted labour’s ability of bring succour to them.
He disclosed that the lead¬ership of NLC had, on No¬vember 13, promised work¬ers that the state government would pay their salaries on November 17 based on the agreement reached with the government but it failed. However, workers who even¬tually ended their protest at the Government House dis¬agreed with the promise of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Kingsley Uju, who addressed the protesters on behalf of Okorocha.
“What is happening is re¬grettable; it is not the making of the state governor. Efforts are in top gear to pay all of you; just give us till next week,” Uju said.