Mike Akpara ,Abia State Commissioner for Finance
Be patient, good days are coming, Akpara tells Abians
From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia
Newly sworn in Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Mike Akpara, has implored Abians to be patient with the Dr. Alex Otti-led administration which, he said, is systematically and diligently putting things right in the state and bringing good days.
Speaking in an interview with journalists after his swearing in last Tuesday in Umuahia, Akpara said that the administration in the state would deliver on its campaign promises, especially, clearing salary arrears owed civil and public servants in the state and delivering other dividends of democracy.
“We are telling the Abia people that the promise we made to them, saying that on or before the 31st of December, stories of the arrears of salaries will be a bygone issue and it is going to be sacrosanct and we will deal with it as expected of us,” he reassured.
“Pensioners will be paid, gratuity will be paid, salaries will be paid when due, and other things that are due to Abians as pertaining to dividends of democracy will definitely come to them. Let’s just be patient. This rot was done in not less than 24 years, so it is not going to be something that will be freed up in the next two months. But with time, with God on our side, with the zeal in us, I am assuring Abians they will be taken care of, the good days are coming,” he added.
Explaining why the administration embarked on the ongoing verification and harmonization exercise, the Commissioner said: “We came with several manifestoes and one of them being to ensure that the workforce in Abia is taken care of. His Excellency has abolished core and non-core staff in the civil service. There is no core or non-core staff any more. What it means is that everyone is equal and a labourer should receive his pay. And to that, we are doing this harmonization and regularization, making sure that we pay the genuine workers.
“There are some people that don’t come to wok but they collect salaries; there are some people that put in fictitious names to collect salaries. This is not going to continue to happen and that is exactly why it is very rigorous. We are just taking these pains to make sure we weed out all those bad eggs. And as soon it is done; things will begin to work for us seamlessly.”
He said the hiccups being witnessed in salary payment would fizzle out in no time and a holistic payment structure achieved, as the state has deployed a salary payment application system. He attributed the problem associated with the current salary payment to the refusal of the immediate past government to using the app for salary payment.
“Like they always say, Rome was not built in a day. It is just going to be a systematic thing. It might interest you to note that even the people managing the salary payment App said that they even told the out-gone state government to apply the app for paying other workers.
“They refused because a lot of people are hiding certain things. There are skeletons in their cupboards and that is the reason why we are doing this harmonization and verification. We want to make sure we remove all those ghost workers. We implore Abians to have patience with us. A good progress is being made on the salary payment issue.
Akpara said all the struggles by Governor Otti for the Abia top job were to come and serve, and rebuild the state.
“And we have been rendering service. We insisted that Abia must change and for that reason, we fought this battle for over eight years now. And to God be the glory, we were able to capture the seat of power,” he said, adding that the administration was poised to rebuild infrastructure in the state.
“Things will definitely change for Abia. Infrastructure will be taken care of. As we speak, it’s like the only working hospital is the Federal Medical Centre. All the General hospitals in Abia State, even the ones I used to know, I used to cherish Aba General Hospital, Okpuala Ngwa General Hospital, Arochukwu General Hospital; they are all gone. But we are promising Abians that this will be reverted, we will reactivate them to the glory of God,” Mr Akpara said.
