APC group urges Gov to pay workers full salary

A pressure group within the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa, Integrity Group, has asked Gov Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa to pay attention to the welfare of workers in the state.

The Leader of the group, Mr Christopher Abarowei in a statement entitled, ‘Singing in a Strange Land,’ lamented the plight of civil servants, saying they were suffering untold hardship.

Abarowei noted that the inability of the government to pay full salaries in Bayelsa considered as a civil service state had increased the level of hunger and poverty in the state.

“We are all on the same page irrespective of party affiliations with all of us praising and thanking God for sparing our lives as people.

“We urge the governor in all honesty to look deep into the plight of our people.

“Bayelsa is purely a civil service state. The governor should meet up with his obligation of paying their salaries in full and as at when due.

“Bayelsans are hungry and many people have withdrawn their children from school.

“Many businesses have closed down because money is no longer circulating in the state,” the group said.

Abarawei, who explained that showing appreciation to God was a welcome development, however, insisted that it was ungodly to treat workers in the state in an insensitive manner by reducing their salaries in the present economic climate.

He reminded the governor of his promise to revert to full payment of salaries as soon as the allocation coming into the state improves.

Abarowei further expatiated the scriptural memory verse of Psalm 35:4 adopted by the governor for the year’s Thanksgiving Day.

The memory verse says, ‘let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul. Let them be turned back and brought to confusion that device my hurt’.

“Nobody will pray for the downfall of a fellow Bayelsan as God is not an author of confusion; it is expedient to note here that God said a labourer is worthy of his or her wages.

“The governor should pay the civil servants their salaries without much ado to make them say a resounding amen to his prayers,” he said.