By John Ugo, Awka
Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Charles Soludo, CFR has increased salaries of the state civil servants by ten percent.
Governor Soludo made the declaration at the celebration of the 2022 Public Service Day held at the Anambra Secretariat Complex Awka.
He also promised to give the N15,000 to the workers as Christmas bonus.
The theme for the event was; “Performance Management System: Impact on the Nigerian Public Service.
The Governor expressed empathy for income earners, especially in the light of the dwindling economic situation in the Country.
Lamenting the current economic hardship in the country, Governor Soludo said: “Given my own background as a worker, what we are not able to do for the working class, you must understand it is literally impossible,” he reiterated.
According to him, “On the issue of Christmas rice, we reviewed how it’s done in the past and discovered that it is no longer tenable. I understand in previous years that past governments gave 25kg bag of rice to civil servants for Christmas.
“The state of Nigeria is bad. Everybody is complaining. Prices are rising very fast, I look at you and wonder how you cope. Today, 50kg bag of rice costs over forty thousand naira (₦40,000). That’s beyond the salary of a graduate in the public service. Something is not right! “
He said, “What we will do instead, between today and tomorrow, we will first of all make sure that our pensioners are taken care of, to demonstrate good faith. I wish we could do much more but today, you will receive an alert of fifteen thousand naira (₦15,000) as Christmas bonus”.
“The income is not increasing, government revenue is not increasing. We cannot print money. I understand what you feel and wish that our revenue will go up so we can multiply what comes to you in proportion to Nigeria’s inflation.
“The Head of Service made a request for releasing funds to process promotion.
“We have made the budget for next year and it has been signed. Any new thing not in the budget can’t be done.
“I received a report a few days ago recommending minor adjustments in salaries. We will review it and see if it is feasible”, Soludo stated.
“From February to date, NNPC has not remitted a dime to the federation account and our state of finances means we can’t do everything at the same time but, we have to prioritize and that’s why we are collecting taxes.
“Next year, Lagos is expecting to collect 100 billion naira a month from IGR while Anambra is still aiming at 3 billion naira. But I assure ndi Anambra that any money that comes into our hands, we will utilize them judiciously”, Governor Soludo promised.
“Last year public service day, I was here to plead for your votes. Today, I have appeared to you as the Governor of this state. You employed me as your Chief servant and I am your employee.
“I thank you for your services to Anambra. I am the Chief Public Servant and without you, there will be no public service.
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