Delta State youths, under the aegis of Delta Youth Assembly, a socio-political pressure group comprising of all tribes in the state, have called on the Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, to as a matter of urgency pay the salaries of Local Government employees.
According to a statement signed by Comrade Ezekiel Enejeta, the National Publicity Secretary of DYA, the group lamented the failure of the Okowa-led state government to offset over 15 months salary of the local government workers.
Reacting to the situation, which it described as ugly, Comrade Gilor Kelly, the National President of Delta Youths Assembly, said Delta State occupies a key and strategic position in the country and should stand as an example and model for other states of the country.
Kelly said following the sufferings of Deltans as a result of non-payment of workers’ salaries, the state is in a position to lose investments of multi-nationals.
He said: “When the local government workers staged a protest last month, the response of the state government did not address the immediate problem of the masses, rather it layed the blame on the fact that the workforce of local government workers are too large and as a result salaries obligations could not be met, this is unacceptable, Comrade Gilor said.”
Lamenting further on the sufferings of the local government workers, Kelly described as “disappointing and inexcusable the reasons given by Jackson Ekwugum, Manager of Communications of Government House, why workers are not being paid for almost a year; a government that promised a SMART agenda but only ended up giving excuses why it cannot pay salaries does not have the interest of the people at heart.
“We therefore call on the state government to make frantic efforts to alleviate the sufferings of the masses for peace to reign in the state, a hungry society only produces violence and there cannot be any meaningful development without sustainable peace.”
The Delta Youths Assembly is the umbrella body comprising of all youths from all quarters of the state poised with a vision of accountability in governance as well as maintaining peace by engaging Delta youths in meaningful and productive engagements away from social vices.