Akwa Ibom State governor, Pastor Umo Eno, has raised the alarm that non-state actors, especially his fellow clergymen in Christendom, were threatening to bring down his government, alleging exclusion from government largesse after praying for the governor to brave the odds to come to power.
“Some Pastors who claimed they were responsible for the prayers that made me governor have sent a message that since I don’t carry them along, they are set to pray a prayer that would bring down my government,” the governor declared before the Apostolic Church congregation on Sunday.
Also, the governor disclosed of plans by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) led by the state Chairman, Comrade Sunny James, and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), to sabotage his administration policies and programmes through strike and other forms of industrial face – off over delay in the implementation of the new minimum wage, which has been pegged at N80,000 for the state workers.
Speaking at the weekend’s annual Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) thanksgiving service held at the governor’s village Apostolic Church at Ikot Ekpene-udo, in Nsit Ubium local government area, the governor warned such mischief makers that he was not going to succumb to threats from any quarters.
He made it clear that no force can arm-twist him into abandoning the ongoing physical verification exercise of the workers in the government employ, which has so far led to the discovery of personnel fraud with over 2,000 ghost workers collecting salaries and other entitlements for work not done.
Since coming on board as governor in 2023, Pastor Eno, recalled that several billions of naira have been devoted into clearing the backlog of gratuities of retired civil servants with over N95 billion still outstanding.
The governor, who said he would only pay the new salary structure to those already captured in the exercise beginning from January 2025, with arrears from November 2024,, queried why the union did not threaten successive administrations that left the huge burden for him.
He noted that since its inception, his administration has been running an all-inclusive framework devoid of the sentiments of party politics, ethnicity and religion, wondering why such a threat.
He said: “We knew certainly that we will pay workers N80,000 minimum wage as we promised, but we only said that we should do verification. I have heard that the report has been submitted and will be presented to me tomorrow by the Head of Service.
“Once that report is presented, for those that were verified, we will commence payment this January with arrears from 1st November 2024. It does not need any letter from anybody. Don’t let anybody deceive you that they are the ones persuading me to do so.
“If you haven’t been verified in the Akwa Ibom State Civil Service, I will not pay you, irrespective of threats of strike action. That has been our commitment and I don’t go back on the things I say.”
On the choices of the incoming commissioners, the governor maintained that “I will pick who I know he/ she will deliver for me without external interference.”
