Yesterday I pondered upon some stories propagated on social media about the protest staged by few people who according to them, are retirees and primary school teachers. Accordingly, they maintained that the State government is yet to pay their gratuities and promotion arrears meant for different highlighted year(s) or month(s) respectively. While I went further to demand clearer explanations for authenticity's sake, I ascertained that the story is not as I was told by some APC facebook journalists whose aim is to take advantage of any occured scenario to tarnish the image and reputation of the governor.
The former governor of Akwa Ibom State who doubles as the Federal Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Sen. Godswill Akpabio on vacating the Governorship seat had claimed he was not owing any group of people. To our greatest shock, it was discovered that he had left behind a great burden of debt for his predecessors. Akpabio was governor in an era where there was abundance of resources. Why then was he unable to pay all worker's entitlements up-to date?
For the sake of setting the records straight, let it be known that the protest staged by few of the retired and serving Primary School teachers as witnessed yesterday had nothing to do with the present State administration. From their analysis, it's been clearly stated that between 2011-2015, gratuity was not paid to primary school teachers in the State, and that the one paid in 2010 was only but a 45% payment of the total sum. They went further to highlight other numerous debts owed them by the past government which promotion arrears and pension arrears. From the abundance of grieves, they pleaded with His Excellency the governor to ensure the probe of Sen. Akpabio who they believed bluntly refused paying their entitlements because of his preposterous character. The question now is; are we going to sue for the probe Sen. Akpabio who with about N45bn monthly excess crude oil derivation, N10bn monthly ecological funds and N26bn monthly allocation, refused to pay worker's entitlements or we'll sit and fold our arms, blaming Gov. Udom Emmanuel for this Akpabio's wicked action? Udom Emmanuel is blameless!
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