Abia State ‘Crawling’ Due To Failure Of Previous Govts – NLC Chairman

Chief Uchenna Obigwe, Chairman, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Abia, on Monday said that at 26 the state is still crawling like a baby.

Speaking in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, on the 26th anniversary of the state, Obigwe blamed the previous administrations for the Abia’s lack of development.

Carved out of the current Imo State, Abia was created on August 27, 1991, by then military President Ibrahim Babangida.

The NLC boss said it will take a lot of time to achieve any meaningful development in the state, owing to the extent of infrastructural decay.

On the fate of workers, Obigwe said that it had not been easy for civil servants in the state, owing to the delays in the payment of salaries.

“At 26, Abia is still crawling like a baby because previous administrations failed to develop the state,” he said.

“You know that this is my constituency, so I can safely say that this administration is doing well to better the lot of the civil servants in the state.

“Today, the governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, has paid workers in the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) up to date.

“We only have issues with the local government workers, teachers in primary and secondary schools, some parastatal agencies and pensioners.

“If the government can take care of the salaries of this category of workers like those in the MDAs then our problem is over,” he said.

Abia is a state in the south eastern part of Nigeria. The capital is Umuahia and the major commercial city is Aba.

The state occupies about 6,320 square kilometres, is bounded on the north and northeast by the states of Anambra, Enugu, and Ebonyi. To the west of Abia is Imo State, to the east and southeast are Cross River State and Akwa Ibom State, and to the south is Rivers State.

Crude oil and gas production is a prominent activity, as it contributes over 39% of the State’s GDP.