From; Victor Duruamaku, Owerri.
Imo State Governor Chief Rochas Okorocha, has confessed to the people of the State that his administration was not alone in the Labour government crisis which had enveloped the State in recent times.
The Governor made this confession during his meeting with both the National and State leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) which resulted from a mass really organized by the labour to protest the sack of over 3,000 workers of the 19 parastatals and agencies in the State.
He disclosed that all the Governors in the Federation were crying over high wage bills and were waiting for who will carry out the fight against the high wage bill before he decided to carry out the fight against his political career.
He said “I will not continue on sentiment, I know that I am not alone in this labour crisis. All other state governors have been crying and wanting for who to bell the cat”.
The Governor continued, “here I am to bell the cat at the expense of my political career”.
Governor Okorocha, who is the current chairman of the APC Governor’s Forum, said that labour was demanding 70 per cent of the state resources, pointing out that he has conceded to that to make peace reign.
However, the State government and labour, during the peace meeting agreed on some terms.
In the communiqué issued by the committee on joint government and labour negotiation in the State Wednesday, it was recommended that the sacked workers be recalled immediately.
Also the committee recommended that the gross revenue of government from all sources will be verified every month by the joint committee of government and labour.
The communiqué said that government will retain and run all its affairs with not more than 30 percent of the verified revenue for the month, while the committee will apply the balance of the remaining 70 percent.
It is said that the negotiation will continue with a view to fully accessing the wage bill of every ministry, department and agency and to determine the funding modalities of parastatals within the agreed percentage sharing frame work and other agreements.
However, following the agreements reached by the government and labour the three-day warning strike was called off immediately.
