Some aggrieved staff of the Abia State Ministry of Environment, Umuahia, staged a protest on Wednesday. They claimed that more than eight million naira had been deducted from their salaries in the past three years.
The staff who carried a placard with different inscriptions said that the money started in 2021 is still ongoing under the Christmas welfare programme and kept in a dedicated account, adding that staff is yet to be refunded and some staff noticed discrepancies any time they received their salaries.
The angry staff, who begged Governor Alex Otti to intervene in their plight, took their protest to the office of the Commissioner for Environment, Philemon Ogbonna but could not meet him as he was not in office.
One staff of the ministry simply identified as Onyeoma who spoke on the issue, said some retired staff of the ministry are also victims of the Christmas money, adding that such retirees have not been able to recover their deducted money.
“About four panels have been set up on this matter and nothing has happened. The other time they claimed that armed robbers stormed here and shot in the air and carried money but we never heard any gunshot. They just embezzled our money”, he said.
They called for the implementation of the reports of the Panels previously set up to ensure that the deducted money is refunded to the rightful owners.
Abia State Ministry of Environment is yet to issue any statement in reaction to the protest.
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