Imo: ISOPADEC workers are in misery

I strongly condemn the deliberate withholding of several months’ salaries of workers of the Imo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (ISOPADEC) by the state government. In the commission, there is a backlog of unpaid salaries and entitlements. I view this as not only callous but also as an infringement on the legitimate and democratic rights […]

I strongly condemn the deliberate withholding of several months’ salaries of workers of the Imo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (ISOPADEC) by the state government.

In the commission, there is a backlog of unpaid salaries and entitlements. I view this as not only callous but also as an infringement on the legitimate and democratic rights of the workers of the Commission. I, therefore, join others to call for the immediate payment of not only the unpaid salary arrears but all the outstanding allowances due to the workers. The government, on the assumption of power, immediately cut down the salaries of workers in the commission by 50 per cent. Worker’s medical service is grounded and there is no job security.  

The government’s lackadaisical attitude towards the welfare of workers in the state is making life unbearable as their case is becoming hopeless despite their unwavering sacrifice to the state. And when they choose to demand their legitimate payments and organise for a fight back, they are arrested,  charged to court on trumped-up charges, victimised, harassed and some of them sacked.

Unfortunately, union leaders and board members, who  are supposed to protect workers, are conniving with the state government to enslave them.

ISOPADEC, which is supposed to be one of the vibrant intervention agencies of the state, is so broke to the point of not being able to pay their office electricity bills. The agency has become a shadow of itself  in spite of its mandate of developing the oil-producing areas of the state.

Kenneth Uwadi lives in Mmahu-Egbema, Imo State.