Okorocha Bows To NLC Pressure, Recalls all Suspended Workers

Governor Rochas Okorocha quickly reached a truce with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday as workers shut down Imo State. The Governor in a swift action, recalled all suspended workers.

The governor directed the workers sacked from the 19 parastatals to immediately re­turn back to work. His action ended the strike embarked upon by the civil servants.
NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, read the resolu­tions reached between the two parties, where the over 3,000 workers suspended last month without pay, were reinstated.
He said that the Commit­tee on Joint Government/La­bour Negotiation in Imo State resolved thus: “The immediate recall of all suspended work­ers of Imo State, notwithstand­ing that the parastatals in the opinion of government should be more productive.

“That the gross revenue of government from all sourc­es will henceforth be verified every month by the joint com­mittee.

“That government will re­tain and run all its affairs with not more than 30 percent of the verified revenue for the month, while the commit­tee will apply the balance of 70 percent in the settlement of salaries of public servants and pensioners.”
The agreements further reads: “Negotiations will con­tinue with a view to fully ac­cessing the wage bill of eve­ry ministry, department, and agency, and to determine the funding modalities of para­statals within the agreed per­centage sharing framework.

“Quarterly, the critical ar­eas shall be reviewed, and en­sure compliance and all rev­enue subheads for the month shall be fully disclosed by the office of the Accountant-Gen­eral to the select committee of labour.

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“And that no public servant will be victimised in any way as a result of the actions lead­ing up to the dispute and res­olutions.”
Before the deal was reached, members of the NLC and Trade Union Congress (TUC) had brought Owerri to a standstill to press home their demands.
They locked the Owerri Airport, forced banks to close, and poured invectives on Gov­ernor Okorocha for suspend­ing the workers.

Wabba and the State Chair­man of the NLC, Comrade Austin Chilakpu and hundreds of workers clad in red and black attires, with their NLC flags, grounded Owerri for hours with no vehicular movement.

All economic and social ac­tivities were also brought to a halt.
Others in attendance were labour chairmen and leaders from the other 35 states of the federation.

In their position paper dis­tributed to newsmen tagged “Our Grouse With Okoro­cha” by the NLC and TUC, the workers said inflation in Nige­ria is currently at double digits, making cost of living expen­sive, resulting in basic amen­ities going beyond the reach of the poor, saying employ­ment is threatening the peace and development of the coun­try, while those currently em­ployed are barely managing to make ends meet.

The agreement was signed by Emeh Ikenna, Special Ad­viser (Technical) to the Gov­ernor, Princess Alma Eluwa, Solicitor-General of Imo State, Eze Samuel Ohiri, Chairman Imo Council of Tradition­al Rulers, Bishop Stanford Nwaogu, Chairman, Imo State chapter of the Christian Asso­ciation of Nigeria (CAN), Aus­tin Chilakpu, Imo NLC Chair­man and Imo NLC Secretary, Ken Onwuemodo.