Otti: Why I deducted from Abia workers’ salaries

Abia State Governor Alex Otti has clarified the issues surrounding deductions in the salaries of some civil servants in the state.

Otti made the clarification during his monthly media interaction with journalists at the Government House in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, on Friday night.

The governor said the state government had conducted investigations in response to the complaints by some civil servants about deductions in their salaries.

Otti said the investigation revealed that the migration from the use of the 2018/2019 tax rate to the current tax rate in deducting the taxes from salaries was responsible for the difference.

He stated: “A lot of people who felt their salaries were being reduced. When we investigated those complaints, we found that what actually happened was that before now an old tax rate was being applied.

“The 2018/2019 tax rate was being applied and there was a 2021/2022 tax law, which of course, has come into effect.

“I find it difficult to accept that somebody is pinching salaries; then how do you even do it, because the money leaves the account of the state and hits the account of the beneficiary.

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“So, at what point would somebody deduct the salaries, and if you deduct, where do you take it to?”

The governor added that the government investigated the complaint about salary disparity in some Local Government Areas of Abia State and “we found that it is not true”.

Otti also attributed the development to tax deductions, using the current rate.

Otti said the Abia State Government had evolved a policy that allows the payment of overtime allowance to a civil servant who performs “overtime duties”, based on the request of the government.

He said: “If you were getting paid overtime and you were getting some overtime now the government says you are not supposed to work overtime.

“Except if there is need for that and it is the government that would ask you to do that.

“I think that is what people are mistaking for salary being deducted.”

On minimum wage, Governor Otti stated that the government had set up a committee to look into the issue as it awaited more clarifications from the federal government on the matter.

“As we even prepare for a review of the budget after the virement, we are already making provisions for increase of salaries on the basis of the new minimum wage,” he added.

The Star