PARTNERSHIP FOR TRANSFORMATION
Being the Text of an Address Presented by Governor Alex C. Otti, OFR, at the Celebration of the 2025 International Workers’ Day at the Umuahia Township Stadium on Thursday, May 1, 2025
Protocols,
- Let me heartily welcome you dear comrades, friends, and partners in the New Abia project to the 2025 celebration of the International Workers Day. We have gathered as members of one community to join the rest of the world in honouring the commitments and sacrifices of the men and women whose dedication to their day-to-day responsibilities in different work stations around the world keep the wheels of social and economic prosperity in constant motion.
- Today’s celebration honours the present but also pays homage to those whose resilience and foresight brought us here. The history of labour is an account of human civilisation from the very beginning and while we have made giant leaps in the push to create higher output levels from available factor inputs, it is also pertinent that we acknowledge the enthusiasm and passion of those who worked with crude implements to produce food and factory goods, provide essential services and maintain law and order in their time.
- Let me now come home and thank the workers in our State for genuinely embracing the work ethics and standards of the New Abia. I am glad that the 9 am to 5 pm orientation is gradually fading away from our work environment as more people come to a new consciousness that it is possible to operate a 24-hour economy in the State and this does not exclude government agencies and parastatals. The New Abia work ethic does not permit anyone leaving the office when there are still files to be attended to or tasks to be executed. You do not go home because it is 5 pm; you go home because you have effectively completed the tasks you outlined at the beginning of the day.
Across the State, private businesses now open much earlier and in many government establishments, you find civil servants at their duty posts very early in the day and some don’t mind working on weekends. What is most interesting with the civil servants is that unlike in the past, you now find them actively creating value, prioritising their official responsibilities while supporting their superiors to deliver on the statutory mandates of their respective offices. Most importantly, the workforce is doing this voluntarily. - To be honest, I am not surprised that the work ethic in Abia has changed drastically in the last 23 months. I had long maintained that human beings, especially workers, respond to how they are treated. The most significant reasons most workers lost their motivation before now and surrendered to the pull of absenteeism and poor productivity were related to the poor state of the physical environment, disregard for workers’ welfare and a general culture of wealth without work promoted mostly by former public office holders and their lackeys. Only a dishonest person would imagine that an employee whose entitlements have not been paid for several months would put in their best at work, the same for the man or woman who literally passes through hellfire to access their homes or offices.
- I am glad that we have been faithful to our campaign promise of regular and prompt payment of workers’ entitlements without forgetting those who offered their best to the state in their most active years and are now retired. Let me reiterate once more that under our watch, salaries and pensions would continue to be paid by or before the 28th of every month. Last year, we made a promise that Abia shall be amongst the first to pay whatever was agreed as the new national minimum wage by the Federal Government and representatives of the organised labour. Today, I am pleased to report that we kept that promise. We are not just paying the N70, 000 new minimum wage, we are paying it promptly and regularly. We have introduced even higher wage rates for employees in the critical development sectors.
Just this week, I approved a new pay structure for employees of the State Government working in the health sector; the new standard puts them on the same compensation bracket with their counterparts in federal establishments. We are not yet where we wish to be but I can assure you that the State Government will continue to prioritise workers’ welfare, ensuring that they earn justly for their contribution to the growth of our economy. - Beyond financial compensation, we are also changing the physical environment where our workers function from. The Nnamdi Azikiwe and the new secretariats here in Umuahia have undergone major structural transformation and facility upgrade over the last 12 months with power and water supply fully restored to guarantee optimal productivity and comfort for the staff. The State Civil Service Commission has since left the decrepit building they occupied before now and moved to a new modern secretariat complex. We have also completed and commissioned the JAAC Building which now houses several agencies of government, providing safe and decent workplaces for our people, the same for the Budget and Planning Office and annexes. At the Government House, personnel attached to the Office of the Secretary to the State Government, Press Office, Government House Clinic and others would soon forget the ugly environment of the not-too-distant past as we await the successful completion of their new office complexes. The new structures are supported by independent energy sources, water supply systems and like we envision for all government offices in the State, steady and reliable high speed internet network.
- As I had earlier hinted, I would be the first to acknowledge that we have not met 100% of your demands but again as I always remind us, Rome was not built in a day. As you may recall, we are coming from a very bad place and had been battling to meet the burden of unpaid salary and pension arrears left by those who came before us. In the past 23 months, we have committed sums in excess of N30 billion to offset arrears and we are still not done. We are also in discussion with many of your colleagues who were arbitrarily dismissed from the civil service by the past government for reason of where they originally hailed from, not minding their immense contributions to the growth of the State. Our plan is to properly compensate them for the grave injustice done them and ultimately make things right with them.
We must never be known as a State that discriminates against people on account of base sentiments and primordial political considerations. Abia is and will always be welcoming to all hard-working men and women. - Last year at this same event, you requested that we open the employment window to recruit teachers for the public school system in the State. Today, I am happy to report that we paid attention to your request which aligned perfectly with our programme for the education sector and have already employed 5, 000 new teachers through a transparent recruitment process. Let me also inform this august gathering that we shall soon announce modalities for the recruitment of a new batch of 4, 000 teachers and technologists to effectively usher in the golden age of teaching and learning in our schools.
- This week also, I gave approval for the recruitment of 771 health workers to enhance efficient service delivery in the health sector. Do bear in mind that we are presently building and retrofitting over 200 health facilities in different parts of the State. The new batch of professionals we plan to recruit shall be deployed to these facilities to attend to the health needs of the population. Still on health, we recently launched the formal sector health insurance programme with civil servants as the primary target. I have just been informed that about 20, 000 persons have since been enrolled for the programme. We expect to double and even triple the figures in the next few weeks. This initiative is designed to cut down out-of-pocket expenditure for the workforce and generally improve the health experience of our civil servants and their families. Clearly, the State Government is very mindful of the welfare of its workforce and shall remain unrelenting, subject to the availability of resources and other pressing development needs, in pursuing the wellbeing of the men and women who are actively shaping the character of the New Abia.
- Permit me to inform this large gathering of workers that I paid careful attention to the requests of the State Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, the ones made by his Trade Union Congress counterpart and other colleagues representing diverse interests within the labour community in the State and I agree they are mostly valid. May I respectfully assure you that each request shall be painstakingly considered and actions taken as required – again, subject to the availability of resources. What I can, however, say immediately is that we shall continue to engage and interact with you as we work to build a state that responds to the needs of its present and future generations.
- Let me conclude by speaking briefly on the theme for this year’s event — “Reclaiming the Civic Space in the Midst of Economic Hardship.” I want to acknowledge the brilliance and relevance of this theme to the situation many Nigerians are passing through presently. We must remain honest in our assessment even as we continue to look to the future with optimism. I would, however, encourage us to remain hopeful as we work collectively to overcome the current tide of challenges besetting our economy. It is not the end of the road, things would get better and together, we shall smile again.
- My commitment to you, Abia workers, is that we shall always put you first because you deserve no less. We are eternally grateful for your continuing support and prayers for the administration. Together, we shall build a State that works for every hardworking man and woman.
- Thank you for listening and may God bless Abia State.
Dr Alex C. Otti, OFR,
May 1, 2025
