Prof. Charles Soludo, Anambra State governor, has threatened to cut salaries of workers who stay away from work on Monday in compliance with the sit-at-home order issued by the Simon Ekpa led faction of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
The governor said the Monday sit-at-home had become an excuse for workers to stop coming to work on Mondays, insisting that such could not continue.
Soludo spoke while addressing the state workers during the 2023 May Day celebration held at the Alex Ekwueme Square, Awka on Monday.
The governor had in December increased the workers’ salaries by 10 per cent while pleading with them to start resuming work on Mondays.
Although, IPOB, which introduced the Monday sit-at-home in the South-East in 2021, to protest the arrest of its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, had continuously said it had suspended the order, the people have continued to observe it for fear of attack.
“Monday sit-at-home has become an excuse for workers to stop coming to work on Mondays. This cannot continue. You cannot be working for just four days a week and earn full salaries,” he said.
“We must get back to working on Mondays. If we do not go to work, we must not get our full salary. We must be paid proportionally with the number of days we work. If we must continue staying away from work on Mondays, then we will start coming to work on Saturday.
“You must do your work and we cannot be working for 70 per cent and earn 110 per cent. We will cut your salaries when you fail to come work on Monday.”
Soludo also stated that the state government had been running on N88bn budget deficit in the last one year.