Okorocha: ‘Return to work or we’ll handle strike politically’

Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State Tuesday warned that government may be forced to handle the strike action embarked upon by the organized labour in the state politically if the workers fail to return to work.

Okorocha, who made this known during an interactive session with newsmen, maintained that the strike action was politically motivated as there was no rationale or justification for the action considering the agreement reached earlier in the month by labour and government.

He regretted that after his trip to the United States with President Muhammadu Buhari, that it was disheartening to welcome him back to the state with an industrial action which has totally shut down the state.

Said he: “I still can’t fathom any reason for the strike. We reached an agreement and even before the month ended, workers reneged on the agreement. We have kept faith with our workers; for the last four years, we did not owe anybody until the economic situation in the country got this bad. It is worrisome that they could not show understanding for just one or two month’s indebtedness.”

Continuing, Okorocha explained: “More than 90 percent of the subvention that comes to the state, which is over N2 billion, goes to workers who are less than 50,000 in strength. Only Imo pays 100 percent CONMESS and CONHESS and our agreement was that the arrears would be defrayed based on the availability of the bailout fund. They defaulted and violated the terms of the agreement and I am convinced their action is politically motivated and if they do not go back to work, we will handle it politically.”

The governor averred that the unspoken grouse of the workers is government proposed plan to embark on the biometric verification of workers in the state.

The governor, however, conceded that parastatals in the state were being owed upwards of five months arrears but explained that his concept of parastatals was such that parastatals should be self-sustaining.

 “I can’t continue giving them subvention. ADP in the state collects close to N20 million every month producing nothing; the Imo State Water Board gets more than N7 million every month, yet there is no pipe-borne water anywhere in Imo State. We cannot be wasting public resources on people who are not productive,” Okorocha explained.