Orji Explains Reinstatement Of Sacked Non-Indigenes

Abia State Governor
Theodore Orji has said the reinstatement of non-indigenes sacked from the state civil service was based on improvement in the state government’s internally generated revenue.
Orji gave the explanation when he briefed newsmen on the recall of the sacked public servants two years after it was carried out in Umuahia recently.
He said they were sacked because the state government could no longer cope with the increase in wage bill occasioned by the new minimum wage.
Orji said the decision to sack the non-indigenes was based on the desire of the state government to regularly pay the salaries of the remaining civil servants.
“When the Federal Government introduced the minimum wage for workers, our wage bill shot up.
“Our option was to ask the non-indigenes to go back to their states so that we will be able to pay our workers,’’ Orji said.
He said that in taking the decision, it was hoped that the affected workers would be easily absorbed by their home governments.
“Unfortunately, these workers were not absorbed by their various governments,’’ he said, adding that the state became worried by the plight of the sacked workers.
He also told newsmen that the state government would use the open space at the old Umuahia main market to construct a multi-purpose edifice that would beautify the city and raise its status as a state capital.
He described the relocation of the market to Ubani Ibeku, near Umuahia, as “a welcome development’’.
Orji said the new market had modern facilities, social amenities and infrastructure that would make life comfortable for the traders.
The governor blamed the scarcity of pipe-borne water in Umuahia on the activities of vandals.
Orji expressed regrets that hoodlums had continued to vandalise equipment at the state government’s water scheme at Onuimo.
He said the development posed a setback to the efforts of the government to ensure regular water supply to the area.