By Tony Okafor, Awka
The Anambra State governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, has asked the Anambra State workers to choose between downsizing and salary increment.
Soludo stated this while addressing the state’s workforce at the May Day celebration held at Dr Alex Ekwueme square, Awka on Monday
The governor said there was pressure on him to increase salaries and down size the workforce, charging the labour leaders in the state to study the proposal.
Recently, soludo had increased workers’ salaries in the state by 10 per cent across board.
The governor also threatened to cut salaries of workers who used to absent themselves from work on sit-at-home days in the state.
According to him, Monday sit-at-home had become an excuse for workers to stop coming to work on Mondays, noting that it would continue.
He said,“You cannot be working for just four days a week and earn full salaries. We must get back to working on Monday to the government. If we do not go to work, we must not get our full salary.
“We must be paid proportionately to the number of days we work. If we must continue not attending work on Monday, we must direct Saturday work.
“You must do your work and we cannot be working for 70 per cent and earn 110 per cent. We will cut your salaries when you fail to come work on Monday.”
The governor also stated that the state government had been running on N88bn budget difficit for the past one year.
According to Soludo, the 2023 budget was predicated on N4bn internally generated revenue every month but the state had been generating only N2bn
He also said the state was supposed to be getting N5bn from federal government but it was getting less.
The governor called on the workers to work towards generating revenue to the government in order to take care of the workers’ welfare and other pressing issues.
