BY JENNIFER JOHN / OWERRI
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Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State, yesterday during a meeting with the leadership of the organized labour in the state, announced an improved salary package for workers in the employ of the state government.
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Uzodimma said the decision to approve the enhanced salary package for the the workers was informed, among other factors, by the improved federal allocation to the state as a result of the removal of fuel subsidy by the federal government, as well as improved Internally Generated Revenue of the state government.
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While announcing the new salary package, the Governor said before now the starting salary for medical doctors in the state who are qualified under COMHESS was N215,000 and the highest pay was N503,000, “but going forward, the starting salary will be N538,000 while the highest pay will be N1.2 million.
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For those under CONHES, Governor Uzodimma noted that their current starting salary was N77,000, and the highest was N502,000, but going forward, the starting salary will be 108,000 and highest will be payment will be N803,000.
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For the Universities, the Governor noted that those under CONUAS, their starting salary was N119,000 and the highest payment was N436,000, but going forward, their starting salary will be N222,000 and the highest pay will be N812,000.
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Those on CONTIS who had the starting salary of N79,000 and highest pay of N416,000, going forward it will be starting pay of N121,000 and highest pay of N634,000.
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For those on CONCAS, with starting salary of N115,000 and highest pay of N434,000, going forward, their starting salary will be N175,000, with highest pay of N662,000.
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For CONTDIS, which starting salary used to be N79,000, with highest pay of N342,000, going forward, their starting salary will be N109,000, with highest pay of N471,000.
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For HARPS, incorporating Ministries, Departments and Agencies, which had starting salary of N76,000 and highest pay of N275,000, going forward will be starting pay of N104,000 and highest pay of N431,000.
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For those under SEMB who had the starting salary of N76,000 and N275,000 as highest pay, going forward will be starting salary of N104,000 and highest pay of N446,000.
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Non-teaching staff of secondary schools that also had starting salary of N76,000 and highest pay of N275,000 will now start on N104,000 with highest pay of N431,000.
For teachers under SUBEB who had the starting salary of N76,000 and highest take home of N275,000, going forward will be N104,000 as starting salary and highest take home of N441,000, while non teaching staff of SUBEB who had starting salary of N76,000 and highest pay of N275,000, going forward will be starting salary of N104,000.
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After announcing the upward adjustments of salary, Governor Uzodimma asserted that it came as a careful consideration of his government on what to do to make the advantages of the fuel subsidy removal to trickle down to the common man, starting from those on the employ of the state government.
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“It is on that note that in Imo State, the government which I preside over has looked at all the variables and decided that we have to work hard to make sure that the additional earnings we are getting from the federal allocation and IGR is used to improve the wellbeing of the citizenry.
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In the case of the retired workers, the governor noted that his government, on inception inherited gratuity arrears of over 20 years, with monetary value of over N65 billion.
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He disclosed that his government started the payment, and that the last batch of over N16 billion will be paid from Wednesday, August 27, 2025, to bring to an end anything about gratuity arrears in the state.
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Uzodimma announced that going forward, all pensioners in the state will go through a verification process known as, “I am alive”, also advising all workers who those they added as next of kin during their employment are no longer their next of kin, to go to the office of the Head of Service to effect change of next of kin, to avoid the long processes that usually follow the claiming of benefits of dead workers by their next of kin.
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For the serving civil and public servants, the governor warned that going forward, truancy and lateness to work will not be tolerated, adding that the clock-in, clock-out policy will be strickly implemented and that there will be no room for signing in and leaving the office, only to come back at the end of work to clock out, as the computer that will be deployed for the process will conduct complete tracking of the worker’s activities during working hours, as workers will be paid according to the work done, as will be computed by the computer.
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Responding on behalf of the workers, the chairman, Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Comr. Uche Chigaemezu , while expressing overwhelming joy and appreciation to the governor, assured him that the workers will continue to support his government.
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Chigaemezu appreciated the Governor for not betraying the confidence reposed in him by the labour leaders, as going forward, with the latest development, no worker in the state will say that the government has not been fair to them.
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He expressed the willingness of the labour leadership to collaborate with the government to ensure that workers who receive the improved package will work to earn the pay and that those who refused to put in commensurate work are appropriately punished.
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