The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Rivers State Chapter notes with reservation the several promises made by the State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, at today’s Workers Day event observed by Workers in Rivers State and their counterparts nationwide.
The PDP observes that the Governor only came to play to the gallery with unreliable and defective assurances of better deal to the captive and hapless workers; particularly the N40m donation, which is meant deliberately to embarrass the leadership of the various affiliated unions and cause disaffection between them and their members in the State.
The PDP says ordinarily, it would have welcomed the Governor’s promise of paying the several months salaries of men and officers of the State owned Transport Management Agency, TIMARIV, as it is an action in compliance to the party’s (PDP) consistent pressure on him (Amaechi) in that regard over the months, but wonders why the Governor had to wait for it (PDP) to provoke him into taking actions and acting responsibly on issues that are of right to the people.
In our view, the Governor’s speech on the occasion lacks substantive facts, and fails to address the core issues that prick the nerves of the Nigerian workers in the State, which include better condition of service, revamping the ailing industrial establishments, payment of pension and gratuity and other allowances as at when due, as well as lightening off the burdens on the struggling workers by opening up employment opportunities and empowerment of the teeming unemployed young men and women in the State.
A particular issue the Party also expected the Governor to address is the payment of the 128 teachers employed at the Rivers State College of Arts and Science, Rumuola, Port Harcourt, since October, 2013. It is on record, that eight months after their employment, the government has not paid them salary or given them any financial support to the extent that some of the lecturers now resort to squatting with students on campus.
Another case is the plight of workers of the State owned RISONPALM Ltd, who are being owed several months salaries and entitlements by the government. It is the failure of the Governor to address some of these most biting cases that clearly presents him as only making broken promises, and which intention was to incite Labour Unions against the Federal Government and President Jonathan.
It is also an inarguable fact that Gov Amaechi turned the ‘May Day’ event into a campaign ground and for inducing Nigerians to register and vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the coming elections, which is a clear deviation from the core labour issues the event seeks to address.
The PDP believes that what matters most is to stanchly address the plight of the Nigerian workers, and it is important and most expedient that the Governor desists from taking advantage of every forum, the latest of which is the Workers’ Day Celebration, in making political statements rather than genuinely and demonstrably commit himself and the huge financial resources of the State to better the lot of the suffering Nigerian Workers in the State.
While the Party warns that the Governor stops using the suppressed workers as prey and ready tools to fight and actualize his political ambition, it is our desire that he (the Governor) translates his various promises today to the workers into reality. It is only by doing that the despondent workers and the people of the State can begin to rekindle their lost hope and confidence in the Amaechi-led government in the State.
Translate Your Promises To Action, PDP Urges Gov. Amaechi
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