Enugu State government has appluaded the state workforce for complying with the state Governor’s directives to end Mondays sit at home and come to work , scoring them 90% in attendance and assuring an increased welfare package for the state civil servants.
The state Governor, Dr Peter Mbah, gave the assurance, Monday, shortly after he monitored the level of workers’ compliance of the end Monday sit-at- home directive, issued by the state government.
Pix- Gov Mbah
Represented by the Secretary to the State government, Prof Chidiebere Onyia, the Governor said that workers’ attendance to duty in all the offices visited was over 90 percent. He applauded them, saying most of the offices visited were able to show, through their numbers, that work had fully resumed on Monday, and that the illegal sit-at-home order cancelled by the state government had been consigned to history.
Pix- SSG addressing workers at the State Secretariat
The Governor tasked workers on productivity, noting that productivity is an integral part of the present administration as the government plans to increase the Gross Domestic Product, GDP, of the state from $4.4 billion to $30 billion and eradication of poverty within the state in the next four to eight years.
Pix-SSG at Enugu North Secretariat
Mbah said that the state government will soon begin to deduct salaries of workers who do not come to work before 8 o’clock in the morning especially on Mondays. He expressed the need to increase productivity to enhance service delivery by the state government in line with the Governor’s vision.
At the Enugu State Universal Basic Education Board (ENSUBEB), and Post Primary Schools Management Board (PPSMB), Governor Mbah said that education is critical to the government., He directed the chairmen of the ENSUBEB and PPSMB to visit the primary and secondary schools in the state to ascertain the quality of teaching and learning ,teachers’ and students’ attendance especially on Mondays in order to totally erase the mentality of the non existent sit-at-home among them.
The governor disclosed that the monitoring exercise will continue till the next six weeks. He warned that laxity can no longer be condoned as modalities have been put in place to measure and track productivity in the state civil service workforce.
Places visited were Enugu North, Enugu South,Enugu East Local Government Secretariats, the State secretariat, Enugu State Universal Basic Education Board (ENSUBEB), Post Primary Schools Management Board (PPSMB) and the ministry of justice.
Fielding questions from Newsmen after the inspection, the Secretary to the State Government,Professor Onyia said, he embarked on the monitoring exercise on the directives of the state Governor.
Pix- Prof Onyia in an interview
“Idecided to go around the local governments today on the directive of His Excellency the Governor, and we also went to some other specific agencies, civil service secretariat, Enugu State Universal Basic Education Board (ENSUBEB) and the Post Primary School Management Board (PPSMB).
On his impression, he said,” from what I have observed in the Secretariat, in the organisations that we visited, there are over a 90% compliance in attendance.
“We are beyond attendance now. We are looking at productivity. When people come to work, how do we track performance? The Governor’s Delivery Unit is working on that with the Labour and Productivity Ministry. They will begin to integrate this framework for measuring productivity in our day-to-day activities in public service. That is the only way we can enhance productivity, which is a key aspect of the governor’s promise to the people of the state,” he said.
Prof. Onyia, reiterated the governor’s resolve to transform the state, improve on the welfare and well-being of citizens, saying, the state government had already taken some deliberate steps meant at reforming the civil service, creating a conducive work environment for them and giving attention to their needs.
He noted that electricity had been fully restored at the secretariat complex through collaboration with the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) and equipping, re-equipping and fixing of some of the electricity generators which were already working at full capacity.
The SSG called on members of the public and investors to go about their businesses as the governor had, through several security measures, raised the bar of the state security network which had made it difficult for criminals to penetrate the state, saying the state is presently rated as one of the states with fewer crimes but highly secured.
He explained that measures such as the constitution and training of the Distress Response Squad (DRS), mounting of security cameras, strengthening the local policing and intelligence collaboration had made the state safer for residents and their investments.
Prof Onyia also noted that those habitual latecomers and others engaging in act of absenteeism would be sanctioned according to the civil service rules, even as he warned that the administration would not condone acts which could jeopardize the policies of the state government.
“Investors will not come to Enugu , if they are not sure of Governor’s principles and behavior of the people that are responsible for that, which is the civil servants,” he said.
Some of the offices visited included Enugu North, Enugu South, and Enugu East local government areas, the State Secretariat Complex, Ministry of Justice, ENSUBEB, PPSMB, among others.
Author: Maureen Ikpeama