- State Commissioner for Health, Dr Ngozi Okoronkwo gave clarification
- Abia says government has no intention of sacking or disengaging any doctor or health personnel
Abia State Government has debunked rumours in some quarter that it has sacked its medical doctors, describing it as “untrue”.
The State Commissioner for Health, Dr Ngozi Okoronkwo gave the clarification in a statement on Monday.
The Commissioner noted, “The purported sack is only the figment of the authors’ imagination as the government has no intention of sacking or disengaging any doctor or health personnel currently working to support our ongoing efforts at reviving the health sector in the state.”
Dr Okoronkwo who maintained that no one has been asked through any circular to submit “fresh expression of interest” as the fake circular directed, advised the doctors and members of the general public to ignore the rumour and support the several initiatives of the government at driving holistic healthcare delivery in the state.
The Commissioner has since her appointment in the Otti’s administration, adopted several pragmatic initiatives at reviving the health sector in the state, disclosing that her intervention saw health workers call off their 6-month old strike and returned to work almost immediately.
While speaking during the flag-off of the free medical services of the Ministry at Aba General Hospital last weekend, the Health Commissioner pointed out that the era of owing health workers their entitlements was long gone as the governor has prioritised prompt payments of salaries and allowances of the workers.
Similarly, the Abia State Government says it has saved 220million naira on monthly wage bills in the state, following the ongoing verification exercise in the state’s civil service.
The disclosure was made by the Accountant General of the state, Deaconess Njum Onyemenam, in Umuahia on Monday after a meeting she held with Governor Alex Otti.
The Accountant General, who said the huge savings were made using a unified payment system, added that the verification exercise was still ongoing where the state hoped to record more savings.
“So far, we have been able to save N220 million from the ongoing verification of workers in the state, local governments and pensioners.
“Not less than 2,300 ghost names have been weeded out of the payrolls, using the unified payment system and we hope to still identify more as we continue with the exercise,” the Accountant General said.
She confirmed that, following Governor Otti’s directive, the state government last week, paid the arrears of April salaries, left behind by the immediate past administration and also June pensions to retirees.
Onyemenam added that local government staff, who were skipped when the June salaries were paid due to their alleged failure to submit their verified payment schedule, will receive their salaries this week.