Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State on Wednesday, March 8, 2023 announced a one-Grade Level command promotion for all the Local Government workers in the state, barely one week to the election of his successor in office.
Surprisingly, the announcement was made in his first ever meeting with an enlarged audience of both state and Local Government workers since 2015, when he came into power.
Like the Igbo adage says, “a toad does not run out in the daytime for nothing – it is either pursuing something or something is pursuing it.”
It was, therefore, curious that barely two months to the end of the most uninspiring, drab and largely uneventful eight-year administration, the worst ever since the return of democratic governance in Abia State, Ikpeazu suddenly realised that civil servants existed.
He has at the late hour come to appreciate the relevance of this all-important engine and heartbeat of any government, anywhere in the world. Wow! Thank God for the upcoming elections and power of the PVC!
No doubt, he saw hell on February 25 and has yet to recover from the shock. Some say it was the rudest shock of his political career. He did not prepare for failure, thus making the shock massive for him.
As a sitting governor, he could no longer reproduce the over 82,000 mysterious Obingwa votes, with which he purportedly defeated Dr Alex Otti in 2015.
That he ignored and relegated civil servants in the state to second class citizens speaks volume about his incurable rascality, insensitivity or “I don’t care attitude” to whether his administration succeeded or failed.
And, indeed, his failure in office was not only abysmal and woeful but massive.
It was not surprising why his immediate Abia South Senatorial District resolved to shame him on February 25, when the people spoke with their PVCs, saying that ‘enough is enough’!. They rejected him for whom he is – a bloody disappointment to his generation!
His poor showing as a two-term governor is manifest in different spheres, ranging from infrastructure to civil servants, rerirees and the entire citizenry.
First, in his maiden state-wide broadcast, Ikpeazu specifically promised the civil servants that he would pay their salaries not later than the 25th of every month.
Regrettably, as at the last count, members of staff of the Abia Health Management Board were last paid in February 2022 and no hope that they would be paid soonest. The same for medical doctors in the state government employ.
He also promised that his administration would not default in the payment of workers’ allowances.
He emphasised that workers’ welfare, under his watch, would receive topmost priority so as to boost their morale and attitude to work in order to enhance productivity.
Contrary to his promise, a recent check shows that workers were last paid leave allowance in 2017.
Okezie also gave assurance that the payment of pensions to retirees would also receive priority attention during his administration.
Again, fact check shows that rerirees in the state are owed for several years by this outgoing administration.
While campaigning in 2015, Ikpeazu promised that Aba would be given a special attention as the economic hub of the state.
His campaign mantra then was that “nwa Aba ga edozi Aba” (meaning that Aba would be rebuilt by the son of the soil!).
Today, travelling round Aba would expose the level of deceit and failure by Ikpeazu to address the critical infrastructure needs of this city with huge economic and industrial potential waiting for government’s support to explode.
In 2021, Ikpeazu displaced thousands of traders at the Ariaria Internaional Market and began the reconstruction of the market, with the promise that the project would be completed within six months for the owners to return to their business. Two years after, the project is still ongoing, leaving the traders stranded.
Ikpeazu also assured Aba residents, particularly owners of businesses on Port Harcourt Road, whose businesses were shut in 2020 to allow for the rehabilitation of the road, that the project would be delivered in 2021.
However, the project is less than 35 per cent completed two years after, in spite of the N27.4 billion World Bank facility obtained by the administration for the project.
Ikpeazu promised to complete the construction of a permanent Goverrment House Complex at Ogwurube Layout, Umuahia, which he inherited from the former Governor, Sen. Theodore Orji. Barely two months to the end of his administration, the project had yet to hit 30 per cent completion.
This is the governor’s score card for his eight years in office.
This is the reason his command promotion and promise to offset the workers’ arrears of leave allowance from 2018 to date is considered by workers as unrealiatic and one of fake promises.
IKPEAZU’S VOTE-BUYING TECHNIQUE
Addressing the workers at the International Conference Centre, Umuahia, Ikpeazu confirmed the speculation that his command promotion and promise to pay workers’ leave allowance were indeed a Greek Gift.
It was a deceptive idea conceived to bribe them to support his anointed governorship candidate, Chief Okey Ahiwe.
He confirmed the speculation in a speech, when he said: “I stand to tell you that the State Government has your interest at heart and my administration has not relented in working towards the betterment of workers in Abia.” This is balderdash!
He said that it was essential for every worker to vote for the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party “to ensure the continuation of progressive governance in the state.
“The PDP Governorship Candidate, Chief Okey Ahiwe, knows that government is a continuum and will sustain the programmes and policies of the present administration.
“I trust Ahiwe to continue from where I stopped and whatever is outstanding in your welfare would be taken care of within 150 days in office, if he emerges governor.
“I appeal to you and your families to give PDP your support on March 11 by voting for the party.”
Also, Ahiwe promised to strengthen the State Government’s programmes by ensuring that salaries and allowances would be paid promptly, if elected.
He said:” I have been in the system for over 7 years and I will address every challenge affecting local government workers.”
Apparently, Ikpeazu left the hall fulfilled that he had again hoodwinked the unsuspecting gullible civil servants and was sure of their votes.
But a cross-section of the workers have reacted to the governor’s parting gift vis-a-vis his intendment, which they describe as nothing but a vote-buying plot that is “dead on arrival”.
“We cannot be fooled this time around. You know that once bitten, twice shy.
“We have suffered serious necglet in the last eight years under Ikpeazu’s watch.
“We are owed 27 months arrears of salary by the PDP-led government of Okezie Ikpeazu and he is here telling us cock and bull story.
“Asking Abia workers to vote for PDP governorship candidate, who is his anointed stooge, is asking us to vote for somebody that will come to conduct the funeral service for Abia, after Ikpeazu has successfully killed the state.
“There is literally no sector of Abia economy that is functional today. Is it education or health or agriculture?
“Even the Government House, which used to be a beehive of activities before he came into office, has become a ghost house,” some workers said on the condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, the only outspoken member of the 24-member state House of Assembly, Hon. Obinna Ichita, representing Aba South State Constituency, has described Ikpeazu’s gesture as “fake and mere subtafuge”.
Ichita, who is the APGA Deputy Governorship Candidate, spoke on the one Grade Level command promotion in an interview with joirnalists in Umuahia, urged the workers to disregard the phantom promotion.
According to him, it is absurd that a governor who had not paid doctors and staff Health Management Board for over 24 months, owed pensioners for about three years, would announce a promotion for all civil servants less than eight weeks to his exit.
The lawmaker wondered why Ikpeazu had to wait until a few weeks to leave office before remembering civil servants.
He warned that Abia workers would not fall for the trick, saying that the intention was to influence civil servants to vote for PDP in the upcoming Governorship and House of Assembly elections.
He said that Ikpeazu was not known to keep his promises.
”Of recent, the outgoing administration has been engaging in exceptional acts of subterfuge.
“Before now, the government had promised our people that it was going to embark on interventionist measures in Abia North and some other LGAs.
”But I told our people that this Government does not keep promises.
“They promised us Enyimba Economic City but failed to deliver it.
“They promised traders in Ariaria International Market that they would pack into their rebuilt stalls latest by Dec. 6, 2021 but failed.
”They promised traders in Ahia Ohuru that by May 29, 2021, within six weeks they would complete the demolition and reconstruction of their stalls but failed.
“All those promises were fake. This one also, just like those ones, cannot fly.
”Why I said that this promise will fail is because as a lawmaker, I know there is no provision in this year’s budget to cover the cost implications on the recurrent expenditure.
“If the Government was sincere about the automatic promotion, it would have included this in the budget so that we will know we are expecting our people to be promoted and paid their salaries.
”Unfortunately, Ikpeazu has no plans to pay.
“Civil servants should disregard this fake promise from this failed government that has perpetually subjected our people to exceptional servitude.
”This is a government that has not paid leave allowances since 2018, not promoted anybody and has not paid a salary of doctors and teachers and others when due.
“Now, barely two weeks to the expiration of its tenure, it’s announcing an automatic promotion for everybody.
”This is nothing but deception. It’s an insult to the collective intelligence of the people of Abia State.
“What it just shows is that Abia Government thinks that our people are so stupid.
“It thanks that we have suspended our intelligenceband would be carried away by fake promises.
”I urge civil servants to ignore, as always, the Government of Abia State under Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu because it has always made fake promises, which it never fulfilled.
”They promised us Education City in Owerrinta, it wasn’t fulfilled.
“They promised us an underground tunnel at Ariaria/Ifeobara Pond, it wasn’t fulfilled.
“They promised total rehabilitation of the health sector, where is it?”
“What Abia Government is doing to civil servants is nothing but labour exploitation.
“People have not been paid for 25 months; hospitals shut down because of salary arrears owed doctors.
“How can you treat your kinsmen as if they are slaves just because you are in power?”
He explained that the Abia State Univeristy Teaching Hospital, Aba had been neglected and that the only functional unit is the mortually.
“In Abia, when people are sick there would not be ambulance to convey them to hospital for treatment but ambilances would be available to take them to mortuary,” Ichita said.
But Dr. Alex Otti, the Governorship Candidate of the Labour Party, has urged the frustrated and dehumanised Abia citizenry to “weep no more”.
He said that he had come to wipe away tears from the people and give them hope for a better tomorrow.
In line with his mantra, Otti has articulated a manifesto to transform the economy and change the narrative of Abia.
During his state-wide campaign tour, the renowned economist blamed the failure of successive past and outgoing administration on their lack of good knowledge of how the economy works.
He cited Ikpeazu’s failure to regularly pay workers’ salaries as constituting a serious clog in the wheel of economic progression.
“When you don’t pay a worker, you have distorted the demand and supply chain.
“For instance, when a civil servant is paid his salary, he is financially empowered to pay for his need for bottle water.
“By so doing, the water factory sustains production and is able to pay its workers.
“This is the simple principle of demand and supply in any economy,” he said.
Otti said he had a comprehensive and pragmatic package for wealth creation among the women and youth population and he has a unique approach to actualising this dream.
He promised to deploy the monthly security vote in empowering women and youths of Abia.
To this end, he has commenced the process of registering interested women and youths in co-operative societies in all the 184 wards across the states.
Otti has also spoken eloquently in all his campaigns about his plan to liquidate the arrears of pensions owed to Abia retirees, the number of months notwithstanding. He said that the way and means to so so remains his trade secret.
He further explained his plan to grow the Abia economy and internally generated revenue by reviving the moribund industries, especially the textile, through Public Private Partnership Initiative.
He expressed the hope that the effort would not only grow the economy but also create job opportunities for the teeming unemployed youths in the state.
During his tour of Arochukwu, Bende, Ohafia and Ikwuano LGA’s, Otti assured the people about his manifesto concerning the huge mineral endowments, which God deposited in large commercial quantities in their areas, waiting to be harnessed and exploited for the overall development of the state.
He reeled out some of the resources and their locations to include Limestone for cement (Arochukwu), Kaoline for ceramics (Umuahia), Lignite for turbine (Ikwuano) and Phosphate for turbine (Bende). These are in addition to the oil and gas deposits in Ukwa Local Government Area of the state.
Otti expressed his commitent to job creation to gainfully absorb the teeming unemployed youths and by so doing reduce poverty-induced crime to point zero.
As we go to the poll on Saturday, let us vote for Otti, who has manifest confidence, commitment, character and capacity to rescue and rebuild Abia, our dear God’s own state. (End)
By Sam Okoro, an Umuahia-based public affairs analyst.