IGBOZURUOKE MEDIA

By Paul Obi, Abuja

Following the arrest of a top aide of the Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for the diversion of the bailout funds to the state, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday took a swipe at the governor, accusing him of lack of sincerity in the handling of the funds, thereby causing workers in the state untold hardships.

The EFCC had last week arrested the Principal Secretary to the governor, Dr Pascal Obi over allegation of diverting about N2 billion collected by the state from the federal government as part of bailout funds for states.

But according to the NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, “the arrest of Governor Rochas Okorocha’s top aides by the EFCC for allegedly diverting part of the N2billion bailout funds meant for Imo State did not come as a surprise to us at the NLC.
“The lack of transparency in the handling of the funds wherein stakeholders for whom the funds were meant were kept in the dark as to the availability of the funds in the first place, flew the red flag for us.
“Curiously rather than apply the funds to cushion the hardships months of salary arrears indebtedness had caused workers, the Imo Governor chose instead to summarily shut down government establishments and force workers out with backlog of unpaid salaries.

“We were not fooled by the governor’s claim of lack of funds to pay salaries as he clearly could not show where he had channeled the bailout funds. Thus, our shutting down Imo State over two weeks ago through mass protests and strike action by workers has been vindicated,” the NLC president stressed.

Wabba explained: It is pertinent to point out here that most of our state and local governments have not keyed into the president’s passion, to change the way public funds are cornered as personal resources of the executives in power. This watery appetite for quickly channeling allocation from the centre, including loans, into personal accounts of the executives and their aides and cronies must be focused upon by the anti-graft agencies.

“We call on ICPC and EFCC to monitor the disbursement of the bailout funds across the states. We further challenge the state governments in the spirit of the President’s gesture to publish how they have disbursed the funds.

“The alleged looting of public funds by the Imo State Government must be discouraged.  The crave for looting of state resources by a few privileged persons in government while turning around to unleash wickedness on innocent and hapless workers through owing of salaries and crude redundancy disengagements will no more be left unchallenged.

“We recommit ourselves to eternal vigilance and never again will workers be sacrificed to oil the watery appetite for stealing by chief executives of states and government agencies,” he observed.

Culled from Thisday newspaper