Imo: Workers Dump ‘Coffin’ At ISOPADEC Office Entrance Over Unpaid Salaries

The entrance to the Imo State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (ISOPADEC) office complex in Owerri, the Imo State capital, was on Monday barricaded with a coffin by protesting workers.

The workers are protesting their unpaid salaries and allowances that span over months.

The white coloured coffin was laced with white and red fabrics and palm fronds.

Recall that in January, the ISOPADEC workers embarked on series of protests over alleged non-payment of their salaries and allowances by the Imo state government.

A staff of ISOPADEC, who spoke to THE WHISTLER on grounds of anonymity, decried alleged unfair treatment of the workers by the present Imo government.

He stated that the government paid the workers only two months’ salaries out of the accumulated arrears.

“…the office has been locked again for the second time,” he said, adding that, “we are dying, this is no longer a joke. Our people are dying.”

The official said, “After we complained and staged a protest, they paid us two months of our previous accumulation and asked us to return to work, that they were going to address the matter and until today, it has not been resolved.

“This is bad governance in this bad and excruciating economic system that even if our salaries are returned to the normal state, it still won’t be enough because the purchasing power has dropped.”