Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State has come under pressure from civil servants over the nonpayment of workers’ salaries, one month after his defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC) at an elaborate ceremony in Uyo, the State capital.

Eno, who was elected on the ticket of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in 2023, a party that has won all elections in the state since 1999, dumped the PDP claiming the need for unity in the state and the realization of the Ibom deep seaport through the support of the federal government.

But things appear to have fallen apart after his defection, as civil servants, teachers, and lecturers have yet to be paid their salaries for May and June.

His critics accuse the governor of not being economical in managing the huge funds coming to the state after he approved the purchase of exotic cars valued at N130m each to top politicians in the state, including former deputy governors, among others.

Last week, each of the 31 local government chairmen in the state was presented with exotic cars acquired for them by the state government at over N100 million each.

Demanding the payment of their entitlements, academic and nonacademic staff of the Akwa Ibom State University, which has two campuses, one at Obio Akpa in Oruk Anam council area and Ikot Akpaden in Mkpat Enin local government area, insisted that they would not return to work until their salaries and allowances, including the backlog of the new minimum wage, were paid.

They took their protest to the office of the Commissioner for Science and Digital Economy, Frank Ekpeyong, demanding that their May/June Salaries be paid without any further delay.

They also demanded the payment of 8 months’ new minimum wage arrears.

The office of the commissioner for digital economy, recently created by the governor, is said to be in charge of the state government’s payroll portal, which is supervised by the commissioner.

“Pay us our salaries, we also have families to cater for,” some of the placards displayed by the lecturers read.

According to the civil servants, Frank Ekpeyong’s office is now responsible for the payment of workers’ salaries in the state.

Answering a reporter’s question in his office, Aniekan Umanah, Commissioner for Information, attributed the delay to the verification exercise of workers recently carried out by the state government.

Umanah said the exercise had yielded positive results as some ghost workers were discovered, adding that based on the outcome of the exercise, the state government has declared the intention to recruit 3000 workers into the state civil service.

According to him, “the workers would be paid as soon as all the issues are sorted out.” (BusinessDay)