Abia State governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu has said that he will not sack workers in the state or reduce salaries of workers as long as the state meets its internally generated revenue target.
The governor who insisted that Abia has not entered relegation zone said in the last six months has been between N2.2 and N2.4 billion, which he said was “hardly sufficient for the overhead,” but he has no intention to slash salary or sack workers.
The governor while speaking to journalists in Umuahia said “For now, we are not contemplating down-sizing the workforce. Times are hard but I don’t think Abia is on the relegation zone. But I will be tasking our workforce to work hard. It is only a problem if they are not working hard.
“In the days ahead, I will make them to work harder. If they help me to source for more revenue, we will not reduce minimum wage. We are also paying judiciary workers the new scale. We have managed to be prudent and I think we can do more.
“As long as I find resources, their salary will be first charge but I will not use money borrowed for infrastructure to pay salary.
“Before money collected as revenue gets to government coffers, about 70 per cent of it had gone. We have adopted a quasi-TSA for the state. The warehouse account will take care of all the other ministries. It will help us to reduce wastages.”