Rivers denies owing salaries, workers disagree

Don says non-payment of teachers endangers growth

Rivers State’s civil servants have accused the state government of non-payment of their salaries, despite completing the compulsory biometric exercise.

The government has however denied the claim, stating it has paid their salaries up-to-date.

According to the state Commissioner for Finance, Dr. Fred Kpakol, only staffs that are yet to do their biometric are being owed.

However, aggrieved workers at the Ministry of Education told The Guardian that they had met the government-ordered verification exercise since April, but lamented that they are yet to be paid.

They complained that life has become unbearable for them, as they are no longer able to fulfill the obligations to their families.

Workers at the Ministry of Information and other ministries appealed to Governor Nyesom Wike, to make good his promises and pay them to alleviate their sufferings.

Kpakol said about 75 percent of the workforce have been captured and paid their salaries for the preceding months.

He disclosed that so far, the government has saved N2billion through the successful biometric capture of its civil servants. He added the exercise would end on July 29, 2016.

In a related development, a Professor of Education at the University of Ilorin, Nike Ijaiya has said the non-payment of teachers’ salaries in some states would, not only weaken the nation’s education sector but also slow down the pace of its technological advancement.