Abia Judiciary Staff Union (JUSUN) and the Testimony of Character and Capacity of Governor Alex Otti

They were on strike for two months prior to his assumption of office as Governor over nonpayment of their accumulated salary arrears dating back to January 2015.

He intervened and appealed to them to call off the strike and promised to confront the problem head-on.

They didn’t doubt him because they were at home with his antecedents and trajectory of excellence. They knew he was used to result-yielding private sector reforms and transformation, and quickly called off the strike with the firm belief that he would keep to his promise of solving their problem and replicate his transformation ideology and agenda in Abia.

Just like his promise to pay every Abia worker on the 28th of every month, a promise he has tenaciously kept, today, there’s joy and celebration as Naira pours in torrents for Abia Judiciary Staff.

Like Dr. Otti would say ” it’s more honorable to have a verbal agreement with a man of character than a written agreement with a thief”, it’s important to remind Abians, especially civil servants and pensioners of all levels that in spite of the enormity of the liabilities left behind in salary and pension in Abia, Governor Alex Otti is determined to fulfil his promises to them by clearing these arrears in record time, and the process has commenced.

Governor Otti, as he repeatedly stated during the electioneering campaigns, strongly believes that it’s both an act of ungodliness and ignorance to owe people their salary and pension as such an act goes against the Biblical injunction that a “Labourer is deserving of his wages” and against the economic principle which holds that one of the best ways to ensure economic stimulation is to put money in the hands of the people.

The notorious but common practice of nonpayment of salaries, pensions and gratuities in Abia over the years is one injustice Governor Otti is desirous of erasing from the annals of our history hence the decision of his government to carry out unquestionable and holistic verification exercise and far reaching reforms that would help restore sanity in the civil service in particular and government in general, and enable the government to begin to build an effective and robust civil service that would have the capacity to drive the vision and policies of the government in a manner they would ignite the much needed economic prosperity and overall development.

Having discovered that close to ten thousand people have not come forward to carry out their verification exercise, the government last week extended the period of the Verification Exercise for another two weeks, even after it had closed, and went ahead to paste the names of those who are yet to be verified in different MDAS, calling on them to come forward for verification if they exist and are genuine workers.

This decision is in line with the Alex Otti’s government’s practice of ensuring that every of its policy wears a human face, therefore, all those who have not made themselves available for verification are enjoined to go and do so, to enable the government clear the mess it inherited and begin on a clean slate.

Whether in Health, Education, Infrastructure, Agriculture, Security etc, the Alex Otti led-government is determined to couragepusly confront and defeat the rot and ruins that have held Abia perpetually down over the years so that Abia could erase the foundation of mediocrity that made it a laughing stock in the comity of states over the years and begin to wear the trademark of honour and crown of glory befitting of a God’s Own State led by a Governor of the people.