Akwa Ibom govt isn’t deducting any amount from workers’ salaries

Ekereobong Akpan, head of civil service, says there is no iota of truth in the claim that Akwa Ibom state government deducts any amount from the salary of workers in the state to host government events.

She also warned politicians to desist from making “baseless and misleading” comments.

Addressing reporters in her office on Tuesday, Akpan described the claim of deductions in workers’ salaries, attributed to Godswill Akpabio, a senator from the state as fictitious.

She said contrary to this, the government is not only paying complete salaries to workers, but doing so on time.

Akpan explained that it was impossible for any amount of money to be deducted from the salary of civil servants without the knowledge and agreement of the labour unions.

“You don’t take one naira from workers without the labour union agreeing; they would have been here in protest if such stories were to be true,” she said.

She described Udom Emmanuel, the governor, as a problem solver who is not moved by cheap political propaganda but focused on the welfare of civil servants.

“Tell our politicians that for every careless word they utter, they will give account. This is as recorded in the Holy Bible,” she said.

She made reference to the cleared 10 years backlog of salaries which she said the previous administration had long abandoned, adding that the currently the 7.5% deductions for contributory pension scheme will be paid by the end of the week.
Akpan said the deductions took place between February 2005 and December 2013, and the governor has decided to intervene by refunding the money to the affected workers.

“As you can see, I am sorting out the list by myself because we are going to pay the 7.5% contributory pension money,” she said.

“When the money was deducted, His Excellency was not there, this is something he inherited, but now he has taken the load because of his commitment to the welfare of the workers. So the 7.5 for those that were not paid their refunds, we are trying to do it.

“We all remember that his Excellency cleared 10 years backlog of pensions and gratuities shortly on assumption and if the recession didn’t hit like it did, he would have paid everything.”