Abia gov cuts own salary, travel allowances by 50%

                               

Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has announced the cutting of his salary by half as well as his travel allowance by 50 per cent.

Ikpeazu, who disclosed this Monday at the Government House, Umuahia, while swearing in the state’s new Head of Service, Dr. Vivian Uma, said he was deeply pained by his administration’s inability to pay salaries of workers as and when due following the dwindling Federal Allocation.

He said that he had decided to personally identify with the suffering workers and would not lift the self-imposed austerity until the salaries and allowances owed workers were cleared.

Some workers, especially those in the parastatals as well as pensioners, are being owed up to six months.

The governor, who is yet to pack into the Government House, Umuahia, promised “to do everything possible” to systematically defray the arrears of workers’ salaries.

He called on political appointees to follow his own example , stressing that there was the need to cut down the cost of governance.