Sack Fever Grips Rivers Civil Servants

Sack Fever Grips Rivers Civil Servants

* As Amaechi Plans Downsizing

SOME 10,000 civil servants in Rivers State, one of the key oil and gas producing states in the Niger Delta axis of Nigeria, are likely to be thrown into the choked labour market as government is considering to downsize public sector workers.

AkanimoReports gathered in Port Harcourt, the state capital, on Friday that many of the civil servants have nothing to contribute to further boost the state economy.

Sources say as early as 8.30am, most of the public workers are often seen loitering around and gossipping. It is also being claimed that most of the ministries, agencies and departments are not functional at 8am when official business is suppose to commence.

A government functionary who did not want his name in print claimed that the idea behind the downsizing of the public workforce is to boost efficiency and enhanced welfare. But, the public service workers are claiming that government has not been delivering on their promises on welfare.

They are quick to point at the unpaid Chrismas allowance of last December.

Apparently unshaken, government said the workforce was over populated with workers who had no clearly defined schedule of duty.

The state Governor Mr.Chibuike Amaechi has already disclosed at his maiden interactive meeting with civil servants at the State Secretariat Complex in Port Harcourt most civil servants were redundant in their various places of work, and end up roaming about, pointing out that modalities would be worked out with the labour unions to determine how to actualize the plan to prune down the workforce.

He decried the situation where the state civil service has a workforce of about 50,000 workers, some of which have no specific duties to perform, but collect their salaries at the end of the month, noting that it was therefore necessary to maintain only an effective number of staff.

“The civil service is unnecessarily large, there are a lot of persons in the state civil service that have nothing doing”, Governor Amaechi stated, emphasizing that the state civil service was begging for reformation.

He directed the Head of Service and the department handling the automated salary system to ensure that genuine Civil Servants who were not captured in the process earlier are paid their salaries, as well as the arrears of promotion.

The governor declared that henceforth Promotion in the state would be done purely on merit, and advised the workers to update themselves in their various areas of training to meet the changing times in society.

Amaechi, however, reiterated his administration’s resolve not to dash money to people, but to use such funds to provide social services to the generality of the people, and told the workers Christmas Bonus would no longer be paid because it falls among the free money government was unwilling to pay.

He accordingly enjoined them to safeguard public property in their care and fight against corrupt practices in the system, adding that “civil service is the engine room of government” and described their role as vital to the success of any administration.

Earlier, the Head of Service, Mrs Esther Anucha, thanked Governor Amaechi for finding time to meet with the workers and commended him for the prompt attention to the provision of facilities at the state secretariat complex.

Mrs Anucha noted that the introduction of an automated salary system has helped to check the perennial issue of ghost workers in the state civil service, as salaries and allowances of workers are paid in good time.

She used the occasion to invite the governor to attend the 2010 Civil Servants Week while pledging the cooperation of workers to the success of the state government.

ENDS

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