The Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside, has urged Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, to pay salaries of workers and entitlements of pensioners in the state.
He also lauded Rivers workers for their sacrifices and productivity towards the growth and development of the state.
Peterside, on Tuesday through his media team, in a message to mark this year’s Workers’ Day, was particularly full of praises for the workers, who he said had endured difficult times and harsh labour environment under the Wike’s administration and had soldiered on, in spite of obvious challenges.
He maintained that Wike of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had only succeeded in paying lip service to the issue of workers’ welfare, without any tangible result in the last three years, declaring that despite receiving huge allocations, workers are not better off.
The NIMASA chief said: “The working environment in Rivers State has been made hostile and there is absolutely no consideration for the average worker by Wike’s administration.”
Peterside, who was the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the 2015 elections in Rivers, also lamented that many workers were being owed salaries for months, while pensioners had been turned to beggars, over the inability of the Wike-led administration to pay them their legitimate entitlements.
He said: “I really sympathise with workers in Rivers State. I have heard a lot of complaints from them. Go to the state secretariat and see how so desolate the place is. Workers are really trying to give their best in difficult circumstances. No payment of arrears, no promotion, no pension, nothing.
“Since Wike became governor in 2015, how many times has he conducted biometric exercises for workers, under the guise of all manner of things? Many workers are still being owed from the last exercises. For how long will he continue this?”
The NIMASA chief also tasked Rivers workers not to relent in their efforts to make the state better, while assuring them that an APC-led government in Rivers state in 2019 would better their lot and make them fulfil their hopes and aspirations.
