- Over poor work ethics, abuse of govt’s generosity
- As workers demand promotion, incremental benefits
BY UBON EKANEM, CALABAR – Unhappy with what many have described as the low-level performance of the Cross River State Civil Service, the Head of Service (HoS) in the State, Dr Timothy Ogbang Akwaji has taken a swipe at civil servants over their poor attitude to work.
According to Akwaji, it is regrettable that most government workers have developed unhealthy habits of complete absenteeism or just strolling into their offices in the morning, only to sign the attendance register and thereafter disappear into thin air.
He decried such negative attitudes toward work, warning that they do not augur well for the effective development of the state and the Civil Service’s capacity to deliver effectively on its statutory mandate.
Akwaji, who spoke during the May 2023 Workers’ Day celebration, said the State Government under the leadership of Governor Ben Ayade, deserves commendation for prompt payment of workers’ salaries despite the clearly poor approach to official duties by some workers.
However, charging the workers with attitudinal change, the HoS urged them to develop a new service orientation required for the effective administration of the Service and as a positive way of reciprocating the kind gesture of government in promoting workers’ welfare,
Earlier in his speech, the State Chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Olayi Gregory had listed the areas that require urgent attention from the State Government as part of workers’ demands to reposition the State Civil Service for efficiency and effective service delivery going forward.
He stated that these include restoring the annual incremental benefits to workers; implementing promotion benefits; reinstating teachers’ tax exemption policy and payment of their approved allowances among others.
