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The government of Abia State claims that the state's civil employees' continuous strike has halted all government operations in the state's ministries, parastatals, cabinet office, and office of the Accountant General, which is in charge of paying salaries.
The state government claimed that a court order freezing government accounts was to blame for the delay in paying civil officials in the state, adding that the ongoing bank dispute was the reason for the workers' salaries for March and April not being paid.
According to a statement from Chris Ezem, Secretary to the State Government, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu mandated that salaries for parastatal and ministry employees begin on March 12 (Friday).
The state administration instructed all impacted employees to return to their places of employment right away and made sure that all ministries and the office of the Accountant General resumed operations in order to process wage payments.
Any violation of these instructions, the statement said, "will impede ongoing transition efforts and other activities."
The state administration added that local government employees' salary were current, with the exception of five months of arrears it inherited, of which three months had already been paid. The state government continued to insist that no core civil servant or ministry had previously been owed salaries.
The Ikpeazu administration further ordered local government officials to start paying health workers' salaries right away across the 17 LGAs and asked all local government employees to report for duty in order to ensure project competition, commissioning, and a smooth transfer of power.
The Accountant General's office, the Commissioner for Finance's office, the Office of the Head of Service, and the Secretary to the State government, among other government offices, have all been locked up since the start of the indefinite strike on Tuesday.
