Those who lost their jobs at Abia in 2011 beseech Otti for assistance

A group of civil servants who were fired from their jobs in the Abia State government in 2011 have made a plea to Governor Alex Otti to come to their assistance and save them from starvation and death. The civil servants were fired by the Abia State administration.

The group, who works under the name of the Association of Disengaged Workers of Abia State, ADWAS, and is led by Mrs. Fidelia Ihejirika, stated that they were terminated from their jobs in 2011 by the administration that was led at the time by Chief Theodore Orji due to the fact that they were ‘non-indigenes’ from the states of Imo, Anambra, and Ebonyi.

Ihejirika expressed regret to the media about the fact that 89 people out of the approximately 4,000 members of the disengaged workers had perished as a result of the suffering.

“After some of us returned to our home states, we were told that we needed to report back to the place where we were working. And they were absolutely correct. A few of us have put in 34 years of service in Abia, and now we’re on the brink of retirement; the question is, will States in which we have never worked our entire lives pay our retirement benefits and pensions? It is inconceivable.

“The only thing wrong with us is that we are not originally from Abia State. Those of us here hail from the states of Enugu, Imo, Anambra, and Ebonyi. Those employees who came from other parts of the country were not terminated as a result of the sacking. “Only those of us hailing from the South and Southeast,” she bemoaned.

Ihejirika also expressed her regret that her family members, both living and deceased, had never received any type of compensation, entitlements, or even the salary for the final month that they had worked.

She went on to say that the previous administration of Okezie Ikpeazu refused to re-absorb them or pay them their entitlements, despite the fact that they had made repeated petitions to his administration. She claimed that this was the case even though they had made these requests.

Since 2011, we have not received any payment; when Okezie Ikpeazu was elected governor, we believed that he would be able to ensure that we were compensated for our entitlements, but he did not.

“At one point, we began pleading with his administration in the hopes that we would be recalled, but our efforts were completely fruitless. Then, here is my inquiry: where exactly is our money, and who exactly is keeping it? She asked a question.

The leader of the fired workers stated that a human rights organization assisted them in winning their case against their firing at the Industrial Court. However, the leader of the fired workers expressed sadness that the rulings of the Industrial Court’s Owerri and Port Harcourt branches were not obeyed by the administration of Abia State.

However, the furucinovel remembers that in October of 2013, the administration of Abia State issued a statement through the then-Commissioner for information stating that it had recalled the personnel who had been disengaged from their positions.

The Commissioner indicated that they were welcome to resume their previous responsibilities, including returning to the offices in which they had previously served.

On the other hand, Mrs. Fidelia Ihejirike made the claim that the previous administration did not back up its words with actions.