…Hail Gov’s Development Strides
Civil servants in Rivers State have made a passionate appeal to Governor Nyesom Wike to effect their promotions without further delay and also address other issues affecting them to guarantee industrial peace and harmony in the state. This is even as they commend the Governor for the giant development strides of his administration, particularly in the area of infrastructural development like road construction in several parts of the state.
The workers, who made the appeal under the aegis of the Nigeria Civil Service Union (NCSU) in the state, decried a situation where several of them have not been promoted in the past six years, and pleaded with the Governor to reverse the trend.
The Rivers State Chairman of NCSU, Comrade Chuks Osumah, while speaking with newsmen in Port Harcourt on Monday said there was the need for the governor to write his name in gold by addressing all issues affecting civil servants in the state, stressing that giving attention to the welfare of workers would make Wike the best Governor in the country going by the sheer fact the he has tirelessly been striving to make the state better than he met it in 2015.
By embarking on the construction of six flyover bridges projects at the same time, Osunah said is an indication that Governor Wike is capable of accomplishing any assignment he sets his heart on, and on the same token, he pleaded with him to give the welfare of civil servants the same level of attention, especially their promotion, minimum wage, retirees’ gratuity and pension, among other critical issues.
On promotion, Osumah said, “Civil servants in the state have suffered untold hardship in the past six years owing to the fact that they have not been promoted. If you are a civil servant and you are promoted adequately, as a career civil servant, you aim to where you will retire. And when you are not promoted, productivity and morale will be low because there is no encouragement. That is why we are pleading with the Governor to please promote the civil servants. We know he is a man with human feelings. Let him forget whatever issue he has with labour. He is the father of all civil servants. Let him also know that there is no family in the state that does not have a civil servant. If anything affects a civil servant, it affects the entire family and the state”.
Osumah equally appealed to the Governor to inaugurate the tripartite committee to work out the template for the payment of the N30, 000 minimum wage to the workers, stressing that the state has the capacity and all it takes to implement the new wage for the workers.
“The governor promised he was going to inaugurate the tripartite committee which labour has been expecting him to do since last year. We are pleading with him to see reason and put the tripartite committee in place so that the issue of the minimum wage can be resolved. We know Rivers State has the capability. Other States which Rivers State is better than have started the implementation. We believe that the governor will listen to the voice of reason this time”, he said.
Osumah also pleaded with Governor Wike to pay retired civil servants in the state their gratuity, which he described as starter packs for the civil servants, and regretted a situation where retirees in the state were dying in their numbers for lack of care.
“All the projects and all the abundant resources of the state will make no meaning if our elder statesmen are allowed to die on a daily basis”, he said.
He also appealed to the Governor to renovate the state secretariat complex, as he promised to use construction giant, Julius Berger for the job, contending that it was disturbing to witness a situation where the first Military Administrator of Old Rivers State, King Alfred Diete-Spiff, who visited the secretariat recently, had to be helped with a torch light to access one of the floors of the secretariat.
While commending Governor Wike for the recent commissioning of several road projects in several parts of the state, Osumah noted that the Governor has etched his name in marble in various sectors of the state, and expressed optimism that he was going to look into the problems affecting workers in the state.
“In fact, I know that he built secretariats for the NLC and the TUC in the state. I don’t know where the current misunderstanding with labour is coming from. But as a father, which the Governor is, I feel this is the time for us to drop our chairs and work together”, he said.
