The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State has demanded that the outgoing administration of Governor Rotimi Amaechi pay all outstanding salaries and allowances of civil servants before it handed over power on May 29.
State Chairman, Felix Obuah, said PDP expressed shock at the comments credited to the outgoing Information Commissioner, Ibim Semenitari in which she claimed that the outgoing All Progressives Congress (APC) government was not indebted to workers in the state.
“The comments by the outgoing Information Commissioner portrayed her as not just a professional liar but also a stranger who is not on ground with the goings-on in the State.”
Obuah said for the avoidance of doubts, the PDP drewthe attention of. Semenitari to the plight of workers at the Rivers State Polytechnics, Bori, who for the past three months are reportedly yet to get their salaries.
“The Party tasks the Information Commissioner to go and ask workers at the Rivers State College of Arts and Science (RIVCAS), who have been praying and fasting for months over government’s refusal to pay their salaries,” he said.
PDP recalled that only on Monday, athletes who would be representing Rivers State in the forthcoming National Sports Festival in Calabar, staged a protest to the Government House to demand the payment of allowances of several months.
“The story is not different at the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Port Harcourt where, according to the PDP, workers are languishing in penury owing to months of unpaid salaries.”
Obuah said Semenitari should talk to lecturers and teachers in the employ of the State government, workers at the Ministries, as well as their counterparts at the parastatals, institutions and agencies of government and hear about the last time they got paid by the Rivers State Government under the Governor RotimiAmaechi led government.
“The PDP Chairman therefore, calls on Semenitari to hide her face in shame and publicly apologize to Rivers people and workers for deliberately lying to them,” Obuah said.
