A senior civil servant in the employment of Benue State, Godwin Oga, has resorted to hawking cooked groundnuts to be able to take care of his family.
The 46-year-old staff of Benue State Environmental Sanitation Agency (BENSESA), revealed that he started the business in June, after he was unable to provide food for his family, following government’s in ability to pay salaries for several months.
He said:
“I have so far spent 15 years in service with BENSESA and have also been screened in the ongoing state government screening exercise. I started this groundnut business earlier in June this year to prevent hunger and starvation of my family and to buy medications”
The father of three added that despite being a laughing stock, he preferred the business to stealing, urging other civil servants in the same situation as his, to also seek alternative means of survival.
According to the reports, the Benue State government has not paid its workers for over eight months while local government workers and teachers are being owed a backlog of salaries running into one year just as pensioners have not received their stipends in over 15 months.
The state Governor, Samuel Ortom, had early this year, given out hundreds of wheelbarrows to the youths as part of his empowerment programs and the action had drawn wide condemnation from all and sundry who wondered how wheelbarrows could be termed as empowerment tools.
