Some workers in public and civil service
in Bayelsa State have turned to begging to survive the hard economic
realities in the state.
It was observed that some workers, in a
bid to cope with the harsh economic condition foisted on them by unpaid
salaries, had devised different means to beg in order to fulfil their
financial obligations.
The Fidelis Chidi blog learnt that the civil
and public servants being owed about five months’ salaries by the
Governor Seriake Dickson-led administration could no longer meet their
personal and family obligations.
Many of them were said to be unable to pay their bills, children’s school fees and service their accommodation expenses.
Due to their inability to pay
transportation fares, most of them could no longer attend to go to their
work places and church activities while persons who managed to go end
up begging for fares to go back home.
Some of them said they were dying of
hunger, adding that they no longer went to work because of the lack of
money for transport and feeding.
They recalled that Dickson had promised
to promptly pay salaries of workers, but wondered why the governor, who
was no longer executing projects, could not pay workers.
One of them, who spoke on condition of
anonymity for fear of victimisation, said he stopped going to work
because the government had not paid him since November 2015.
The source, who is a manager in the
government owned Izon Ibe Community Bank, confessed, “I work in the
state-owned micro-finance bank, but since November, I have not been
paid. I can’t go to work because I need to look for something to do to
feed my family. It has been very tough. Surviving in Bayelsa State has
become so difficult.
“I wonder why an oil-producing state
like Bayelsa cannot pay salaries. We learnt that states like Ebonyi and
Taraba, with one of the least allocations, still pay salaries. But here,
we are working in an oil-producing state without salaries.”
Also, two ladies working for the state
government were sighted on Imgbi Road, on Wednesday, begging passers-by
for N100 to go home after attending a morning church programme in the
area.
Though many people turned them down, they leapt up in joy when eventually a Good Samaritan gave the duo N500 to go home.
It was, however, learnt that the
governor recently approved the payment of a month’s salary for the civil
servants, but most of them had no balance left in the accounts after
their banks deducted arrears of unpaid loans.
A food vendor, who identified herself
simply as Emilia, said the hardship had affected her so much that most
of her customers no longer patronised her.
She said, “Before, my small shop used to bubble with patronage. I would finish selling before 9pm every day.
“But everything has changed. I have
reduced the quantity I cook, yet I can’t finish selling my food even up
to 12am. I carry them home. I am even considering closing my shop.”
However, most residents have blamed the
development on the leadership style of Dickson, saying he stifled the
economy on assuming office as the governor for the second term.
An angry resident, identified simply as
Emmanuel, wondered why the government was claiming that the state is
poor when Dickson said he opened a dedicated account “where he saved for
the rainy day.”
“The rain is now falling. People
expected the governor to start using the savings of the state in paying
salaries and rejuvenating the economy. Bayelsa is not supposed to be
suffering. It is supposed to be a model state.”
Commenting on the situation, the
Chairman, Nigeria Labour Congress, Bayelsa State, Mr. Ndiomu
George-Diepre, said the Congress was disenchanted with the development.
Though he appreciated the economic
situation in the country, he, however, appealed to Dickson to pay the
workers so that they could meet their personal and family obligations.
George-Diepre said, “The Congress as
usual is still on the struggle. Right now, we are on the air, calling
on the government to pay the unpaid salaries.
“While we understand the economic
situation in the country and how it also affects the states, we are
still asking that the government should pay all the outstanding salaries
of workers, particularly the pensioners and of course, the local
government workers.
“There are also a lot of scams and ghost
workers suspected in those areas, and the governor is saying he wants
to do verification and after that they will pay. But the Labour is
saying that they should be paid because they have suffered for a long
time.”
However, a top official in the
Governor’s office said Bayelsa State was not the only state that was
owing salaries, rationalising that some states were owing between seven
and eight months.
The official, who did not want his name
mentioned, said, “So, why is Bayelsa State so peculiar that journalists
want to do a report on it?
“The Federal Government is owing. You
heard the Secretary to the Government of the Federation saying the FG is
owing N6bn every month. Is that not scandalous for a nation like
Nigeria? Is it not more news worthy than workers resorting to begging?
Check the fact, we are owing just three months.” See reactions
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