The deceased, who is a 43 year old engineer with the State Water Board and a father of four, was said to have developed various health complications including hypertension and stroke due to the lack of money and the inability to meet his obligations at home.
Yesterday, Peter Ogiero, a Bayelsa State casual worker committed suicide by swallowing a dangerous insecticide known as “Sniper” because he has not been paid for 13 months by the State government.
According to some staff of the State Water Board, Ogiero had worked with the Board for over 15 years and was among the more than 150 staff members affected by the non-payment of salaries.
The deceased, who is a 43 year old engineer with the State Water Board and a father of four, was said to have developed various health complications including hypertension and stroke due to the lack of money and the inability to meet his obligations at home.
Tina, a niece of the deceased, confirmed that the Mr. Ogiero had a stroke and killed himself after his lack of funds prevented him from receiving proper care. "The stroke was caused by too much thinking due to the fact that the State government has been owing him (the deceased) salaries for 13 months,” she said.
"This state of affairs has caused a lot of issues in the deceased's home. At a point, when his wife could no longer bear the situation, she had to run away from home with his three children to their village. That was how Wilson, his first son, and I came to Yenagoa to take care of him. We didn’t expect that he was going to die just like that," Tina explained.
She added, "we hoped upon hope that the situation would ameliorate and that the government would pay him the salary they owed him but all to no avail. When salary did not come, we tried to manage with the little money given to us by the deceased's sister, uncle, and sometimes by his colleagues, but this did not suffice as it was not coming regularly. So, at a point, we found it really hard to buy him drugs and food."
Tina confirmed that the deceased killed himself while his family members were away on errand.
”While we had gone out to look for what Ogiero would eat before taking his drugs, we returned home to see him lying on the ground, gasping for breath. That was how my uncle died. On a close observation, we discovered that he drank a sniper to take his own life out of frustration and poverty," she stated.
Ogiero's colleague at the water board, who identified himself simply as Raymond, also corroborated Tina's account.
Raymond said, "my friend was strong and healthy before the State government stopped paying us salaries. The situation led to his frustration and this in turn led to an increase in his blood pressure which later resulted in stroke that worsened his frustration. As of now, we are being owed 13 months salaries. The head of our agency has made several efforts in writing and appeals to the State government to pay our salaries and allowances but to no avail."
He said worse still, many of the workers at the board had worked for close to 15 years as casual workers, without the regularization of their designations. He lamented that the government had been treating workers of the board with disdain and scorn, wondering what they had done to deserve being treated as sub-humans.
Raymond said, "the situation under which we operate is simply appalling. We are human beings with responsibilities but the government treats us as if we are sub-human beings. This is supposed to be a restoration government but we are treated with disdain and scorn. Our salaries are not paid when due. As I speak with you, the government owes us. Another month has ended, making it 14” months owed.”
"At our various homes, we are no more worthy to be called fathers because we cannot meet up with our obligations as fathers. We have been turned into vegetables. This is not what we bargained for when we took up appointments with the corporation. We are no more able to provide food for our families let alone pay our children's school fees. We are appealing to the government to come to our rescue before more of our colleagues go the way of Ogiero. We are also calling on the government to rally round the family of our deceased colleague so that the children can have some respite."