The staff of Imo Broadcasting Corporation (IBC), on Tuesday, June 2, 2015 took the streets of Owerri to protest the non-payment of salaries for up to three months.
The protest is said to have started from the IBC head office located at Akanchawa road and went all the way to the Government House with angry placard carrying staff. According to the staff, the protest became a necessary step when they noticed that they were been ravaged by poverty and hunger due to months of unpaid salaries to the extent that feeding and paying transport fare to and from work has become increasingly difficult for them.
They also said they had protested due to the fact that IBC refused to give them a lifeline to help them cope with the harsh realities of the times they found themselves living in. Mr. Sam Eke, the chairman of the IBC Joint Action Committee told newsmen at the scene that their case could be likened to the proverbial “monkey dey work, baboon dey chop” meaning that they were labouring and slaving for other people to enjoy.
He also said that the Chief Ifeanyi Olumba led IBC board “is having a field day amid the suffering in the corporation.” He said they had taken the protest to the government house so as to effectively draw the attention of Governor Rochas to the hardship, suffering and deprivation they were going through presently.
The protesting IBC staff were addressed on behalf of the governor by Sir Jude Ejiogu, the former Secretary to Imo State government, who assured them that urgent and immediate attention would be given to their demands and unpaid salaries.
