- Last Updated on 12 May 2015
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Aides to members of Rivers State House of Assembly (RSHA) on Monday took to the streets of Port Harcourt to protest non-payment of the salaries and allowances running into four months.
Their protest is coming a week after staff of the Rivers State House of Assembly, under the aegis of Parliamentary Staff Association, went on an indefinite strike to protest the refusal of the House of Assembly Commission to pay their salaries.
Chairman of the Parliamentary Staff Association, Mr. Okeleke Liu, said they were owed 2013 and 2014 allowances by the State House of Assembly and that all attempt to get the issue resolved, including writing to the Speaker, had not yielded any positive result.
On Monday, the protesters, armed with placards carrying different inscriptions including: “We Are Human Beings, We Need Our Salaries To Survive,” “Pay Us Our Four Months Salaries Before You Leave Office,” appealed to Governor Rotimi Amaechi to intervene.
They expressed fears that they may be forced to forfeit the salaries and allowances since the current administration was already winding down and would hand over to Nyesom Wike of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The protesters were led by the aides to the Speaker of the House, Otelemaba Dan-Amachree.
The protesters said they had been striving to survive since their salaries and allowances were stopped.
They accused the Assembly Commission of withholding their salaries and allowances, saying that they had confirmed that the money was paid to the Commission through the Speaker. They also indicted the Chairman of the Assembly Service Commission, Omubo Princewill, of refusing to address the situation.
An aide to a lawmaker, Tamuno Martins said children of aides to lawmakers have been withdrawn from school because their parents can no longer pay their fees.
He described it as an act of wickedness.
“Our bosses have made themselves unreachable to at least tell us how much efforts they have made to get our entitlements paid,” Martins said.
In her reaction, the State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, said the state government was not owing any civil servant, assuring that all civil servants have been paid up to April.
“All civil servants employed by the Government of Rivers State have been paid salaries up to the month of March with plans to commence payment of April salaries,” Semenitar said.
“The Rivers State Government has continued to ensure the payment of staff salaries because it believes that the welfare of its workers must be paramount in governance.”
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