Akwa Ibom Slashes Salaries of Political Appointees by 20%

 

Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel, has ordered the slashing of salaries of all political office holders in the state by 20 percent.

A statement issued yesterday by the state government stressed that the decision was in response to the prevailing  economic realities of dwindling  revenues caused by the crash in the price of crude oil in the global market.

The statement was signed by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem.

According to him, “The state governor was confronted with an urgent need to take decision on either of two painful options-continue to pay the current salaries for a while and end up being totally unable to pay same subsequently or spread the discomfort (20 percent cut) sustainably over a period of time pending the return of crude oil price to normalcy in the global market.

"We must not forget that it was by the same ancient principle of ‘necessity is the mother of invention’, that led to the establishment of the Akwa Ibom State Post COVID-19 Economic Reconstruction Committee by the governor to recommend navigable routes out of this global economic mess for our state.

"Let us all know and appreciate the fact that these measures are temporary.  Akwa Ibom State Government will transparently resume full payment of salaries when this dark cloud is clear."

It was learnt that the state government had last week approached the leadership of the state chapter of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) on proposal to slash workers’ salaries in the state.

 But, the state government was asked to start the proposal to slash the salary from that of the state political appointees.

However, the Chairman of the state NLC, Mr. Sunny James, while reacting yesterday stated that the congress would vehemently oppose any attempt to slash the salaries of civil servants in the state.