By Ogenyi Ogenyi,Uyo
Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom has announced the release of One Billion Naira for settlement of outstanding gratuities of retired primary school teachers in the state.
He has further announced the release of N800M for the payment of outstanding leave grants to workers.
The Governor made this known while addressing members of the organized labour who stormed the State Government House while protesting the negative impact of the fuel subsidy removal by the Federal Government.
He commended Labour for keeping the protest peaceful and objective, stating that the government, in line with the tenets of democracy and the rule of law, was not against the people driving down their demands in a manner permissible by the law.
“I want to commend in a very serious terms the leadership of Labor for not allowing criminals to hijacked the protest because anything we destroy that belong to government belong to all of us.
“This is very peaceful, very commendable, we are in a democracy when people want to express themselves, peaceful protest is allowed, to carry all this placard is allowed but what is not allowed is when it snowballs into criminality.” Eno stated.
He said that the state government was already putting measures in place to ameliorate the surffering of the people and urged them to be patient as the administration’s plan for workers would keep unfolding.
The governor stated that the state government would soon take delivery of palliatives from the FG while a committee, with membership drawn from various sectors including the organized labour and government would soon be constituted to work out modalities for distribution within 10 days.
“What we will do is to immediately set up a palliative committee and we will bring organized labour in there, with government so that we can sit together, know what the Federal government is bringing and what the state will add.
“Give us the next ten days let this committee sit. We will come out and announce clearly the things we are doing.” The Governor said.
The State Chairman of the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, Comrade Sunny James, who had earlier presented the worker’s demand to Eno, frowned at the lackadaisical attitude of the FG towards the welfare of the people.
Similarly, Chairman Trade Union Congress, TUC, Comrade Dominic Abang, harped on the importance of functional refineries to the economy and the need to release palliatives to Micro Small and Medium enterprises to stimulate the economy.
The protesting workers carried placards with inscriptions such as Reverse Recent Hike in Petrol Price, CNG mass transit buses for workers, Resuscitate Refineries, Salary Award For Workers, Payment of Gratuity to Workers, among others.
