Chuks Onuoha, Umuahia
Hundreds of staff of Abia State Hospital Management Board (HMB), Umuahia, yesterday staged a peaceful protest; to press for payment of nine months salary owed them by the state government.
The protest, organised and led by Medical and Health Worker Union of Nigeria, in collaboration with Joint Health Workers Sector (HMB), was staged at the state office of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
The peaceful protest started from the office of the Board, near the Federal Medical Centre, to the state NLC office, along Aba Road, in Umuahia, capital of Abia state.
The inscriptions on some of the placards read: “MHWUN, remember, injury to one is injury to all,” “HMB staff are dying of hunger,” “9 months salary is not nine days or weeks,” “NLC, your promises to HMB are all zero, we have lost faith in you,” among many others.
Speaking to newsmen before they came out from the premises, on the popular Aba Road, HMB Chairman, Comrade Ejike Patrick Nwukwa, said their protest was directed at NLC in the state.
“They have failed to protect the interest of civil servants under HMB. We want to wake them up so that they will come and face their responsibilities. We are being owed nine months salary and NLC is not doing anything about it,” Nwukwa said.
He said that NLC as a union is the umbrella body of all other unions in the state “and we are under them, so, it is their responsibility to see to the welfare of all the workers in the state. They are not supposed to be there and we are being owed these number of months in salaries,” he added.
Nwukwa also said they had earlier entered into an agreement with the state government,which NLC and JEHESU should have pursued since last year.
“The deputy governor promised giving us our leave allowances, and, up till now, we have not seen any. When the governor visited civl servants at the secretariat, the Head of Service promised that everybody would receive their leave allowances, but, up till now, we are still talking about 2017 leave allowances.”
He said this has affected their members economically and otherwise, to the extent that they cannot take care of their families.
“All we are saying is that they should pay us our salaries. We know that it is government that is owing us, but, NLC is there to ensure that these salaries are paid; that is why we are under them,” he explained.
On his part, the state NLC Chairman, Comrade Uchenna Obigwe, in his response, expressed sympathy with the health workers, and affirmed that government has not done well by withholding their salaries for nine months.
“The truth is that you are channeling your grievances to the wrong person because I have been going for your welfare. If I had not been going, I would have said that you are waking me up to go and do my job, but, since this week, I have going and have told the Commissioner that you have written petitions against me; indicting me of holding your money.”
Obigwe said he is not happy that they are being owed, and added that, “the truth is thatgovernment has not done well in the issues of salaries concerning ABSUTH and HMB and even pensioners.”
He said the state government has not been religious in its pledge to pay and advised that they “should brace up and be ready for us to fight for our welfare. Whenever you want to come, we will join hands and go to government and not NLC, because, I don’t pay you people, but, I have been making presentations,” he stated.