Abia health workers protest over non-payment of 12 months salaries
Abia State health workers yesterday protested over unpaid 12 months salaries, lamenting that the state government had turned the board into a place of frustration, pain, and death.
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Officials of the Abia State Hospital Management Board stated this in Umuahia on Tuesday, 19 April, during the protest.
The workers threatened to drag the state Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, and the state government to court, as well as before a dreaded shrine in Anambra State.
The workers blocked the busy Aba Road by rolling on the road and crying to God to come to their rescue.
The Chairperson, Medical and Health Workers Union Nigeria, HMB branch, Mary Wokoma, said three weeks earlier when the protest started, the state government pleaded with the workers to resume work with the assurance to pay within two weeks.
“After the government paid us for one month, they assured us that they would pay us another six months in two weeks. In trying to respect the government, we called off our protest and opened our office.
“But after three weeks, nothing has happened. We are now protesting to show that the Abia State Government has failed again.
“If care is not taken, they will not pay before they leave office and use our salaries for their election campaign.
“Please, have pity on us and come to our rescue to enable us to live”, she added.
The state Chairman, Allied Action Committee, Echeta Chikezie, pleaded with the state government to honour its words.
One of the workers suffering from stroke, Akabuike Iheanyi, urged Ikpeazu to come to his aid to enable him to have money to have access to medical treatment.
A worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said since the state government would not listen to their plea through God, they had concluded plans to drag the governor and the state government before “a dreaded shrine in Anambra in addition to the court.”
MTO/Punch
