Citizen James

My name is Citizen James. I am in my early sixties and I am from Abia State. I live in Aba with my wife and family and I am a staff of Abia Polytechnic. I do not understand why my salary is not paid on time to enable me sort out my needs. According to our rector, the monthly subvention to the school is meager and the last time we received it was in June this year. It has not been increased as hyped by the government in the media. We hear the money is not enough to pay workers bills and carry out other projects so the government advices the school management to look inward for their revenue and that culminates in school fees increment. That is probably the reason students pay as much as 63,550 naira in Abia poly plus other numerous fees. I have a car, which I ride occasionally during the rainy season. This is because I always visit a mechanic whenever I use it to ply on Aba roads so I prefer to use public transport unless for more important functions. My tax is deducted at source, yet I pay for so many levies that I have lost count and these are for services not rendered. The levies keep on increasing daily, sometimes; it seems we pay for one thing in duplicates. I understand though that it is a form of jobs for the boys, it is used for political settlement.

My wife is a teacher in one of the government owned secondary school in one of the rural community within Aba environs. Every morning, she also prepares for work at the same time with me. She has to be punctual to sign her name; she also has to be in school until school hours are over to ensure that a certain amount of money is not deducted from her salary for absenteeism or lateness. This, she explains is because of a new policy introduced by the government, which is called pro-rata. Here, the principals of the schools take note of attendance for the day and hands the register to the pro-rata team who move on to the next school to look for more victims. It is one of the numerous moneymaking schemes in the state, which have been contracted out to highly placed individuals in the state. The penalty is deduction of certain amount of money at source before their salary is eventually paid (for instance, if your monthly salary is 30,000 naira, then 1,000 naira will be deducted any day you default). She said the penalty is too much but agrees that it has made her colleagues sit up and take their work more serious. Her annoyance is that despite all the stress, she is still owned salaries in arrears.

I have four children; two are graduates while two are still in school. I find it difficult to believe that my children cannot gain employment in my state after spending my hard-earned cash to train them. They tell me that the government embargo on employment has not been lifted. I remember vividly that the major reason giving by the Abia state government for disengaging non-indigenes from the services of the state last year was to create employment opportunities for indigenes such as my children. We are still waiting for the promised jobs and it seems our wait would be protracted because the government is not showing any sign of filling up those vacancies that were created with the massive purge of workers from other states. For the records, I did not support the sack of those helpless people; I believe it was an inhuman act by an Igbo man against Igbo people. What has happened with those spaces that were created? Why have the spaces not been filled up? On the other hand, is it been done silently? I need answers. I have however noticed that new people resume for duty even in the higher institution where I work with appointment letters from government house, despite the embargo. This happens in all the ministries in the state.

On a daily basis, I manage to give my children money to surf the internet and submit applications where necessary. I thought that by now they would have been helping me sort out pressing issues like helping out with the training of their younger siblings in school had things gone as planned. It is not their fault. They have gone for several interviews but the system is not fair. It does not encourage merit. The other two who are still in school are in Abia State University and Abia poly respectively where the fees are high. I struggle to meet the torrents of demands of the two in school. When I do not have their mum also does her best to ensure they get the essentials to keep them comfortable in school. I was therefore shocked a week ago when my daughter in final year in ABSU called me on phone and told me that she was about to be denied her the final semester exams because she had not completed her school fees. That would have given her an extra an extra year in school and extra fees too for me. I gave her part of the fees in her first semester and was hoping to offset the remaining bill as soon as I get cash. I heaved a sigh of relief when she later called to tell me that their school was shut down and exams disrupted because of their protests against the obnoxious policy. I told her to come home immediately while we wait to see what the governor and the school authorities would do next about the no fee no exam policy. I marveled at the audacity of the school management to deny students exams when they know workers in Abia state are being owned salaries. Is this how people become so inhuman and conscienceless when they assume positions of authority? I even wonder why my daughter has to pay as much as 90,000 naira in ABSU. Others even pay higher depending on the course of study. Just this morning, I learnt that the school has given a date of resumption, the condition however is that the students will pay 5,000 naira for having the audacity to protest. I must confess that I was expecting the school to make gains from the brouhaha. I am therefore not disappointed.

Every day, I pray that it does not rain before the end of work. This is because I know that all the roads would be impassable. I know that motorists get stuck in traffic for hours waiting for the roads to decongest while passengers disembark from buses in frustration and walk home. Some do not even bother to start looking for buses; they trek for miles to get to their various abodes. I have trekked from Aba main Park to waterside on many occasions. Many of my colleagues also have horrible tales of what they suffer any day it rains in Aba. I shook my head in disbelief when I read in the papers that Ochendo, my wonderful governor spent 5billion naira on Aba roads. I also read several articles daily where journalists and commentators praise the action governor for working magic on Aba roads. However, I cannot see any of the parroted projects on ground. All I see is dilapidated infrastructure and roads. Nevertheless, I am not surprised because I know all the articles are paid for. Nothing is free; the people who praise the governor and disseminate lies and false propaganda were paid for their services. Man must survive. I do not listen to BCA, because I find it difficult to distinguish if it is a state owned media or that of the governor. For objective news, I tune to other F.M stations.

I found out that I am not the only person who suffers, the last time, I boarded a keke and started complaining, I quickly shut up when he started to pour his heart out in an emotive voice. The keke man lamented that he spends 180 naira daily on tickets in Aba but still pays constant visits to the mechanic because of the roads, which do great harm to his keke. This makes it impossible for him to meet up with his weekly payment to the owner of the keke, which he rides on a hire purchase basis. To make matters worse he is the breadwinner of his family. The bus and taxi drivers have their own stories too and it is not complimentary. Traders and shop owners pay all sorts of fees to revenue agents, which keep increasing on a daily basis. The new one is the “open window levy” which I saw last week.

I have friends who work in the different ministries in the state; they vent their frustrations at the level of stagnation in the state when we see. We discuss the appalling situation in Abia State and wonder how we got to this sorry pass. They admit that people are not happy with the government, even those in high places (government officials) but they cannot speak out for fear of falling out of favour. Therefore, they play along, defend government policies in public, and collect what they can get from the government to make lives easier for themselves and their dependents. They shine the governor's shoe; they tell him what he wants to hear while they grumble in private that nothing is working. They say that the latest release by the government that they would start rehabilitating Aba roads after the rainy season is a rehash of old promises which he has been doing for five years now. This is because the governor knows that Abians would forget the discomfort they pass through on those roads once the rainy season are over and all the flooded roads are accessible once again. We only start complaining again, when we enter another rainy season and the excuses are recycled again. I just pray that he would prove them wrong for once as we enter another dry season. People say that the only thing to do is to and pray that the administration runs its course so that Abians can really have a breath of fresh air. Who will be the bearer of that fresh air? Who will that be the Moses that will lead us out of Egypt? Who will bear the magic wand that will break the stalemated journey of Abians? Will Abians not allow this administration install a successor that could be worse? I am sure this is not what the founders of the state had in mind (the harrowing nightmare that we have been passing through since 1999). Who has answers to these questions?