The not-too cordial relationship existing between the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike and civil servants in the state is on the verge of being further strained following the state government plan to eject some workers from quarters built for them by successive administrations in the state, if they fail to abide by the terms and conditions given to them by the present administration.
Feelers indicate that the government has threatened to come out hard on the occupiers of the quarters situated within the GRA and Old GRA axis of the Port Harcourt metropolis, should they fail to vacate the houses within the one-month deadline quit notice issued to them.
This is, however, without any hope of the financial support of about N1million or N2millon each to assist them look for alternative housing facilities within the stipulated period, thus, setting the governor on a collision course with the umbrella union of the workers, the Nigeria Civil Service Union (NCSU), which has reportedly threatened fire and brimstone, should the government go ahead with the plan to throw out the workers from the quarters.
Alternatively, the union is asking the government to build more housing estates for the teeming civil servants whose population is put at slightly above 30,000, instead of displacing a negligible fraction, who are being accommodated in only 700 housing units scattered across the state.
Speaking in an interview with newsmen in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State Chairman of NCSU, Comrade Chukwuka Osumah, said the union is opposed to the decision because it is too hard on the workers as the state government appears not to take into cognizance the sacrifices and contributions the workers are making towards the development of the state, and, therefore, called on the Governor to shelve the plan in the interest of the relative industrial peace and harmony which the state is currently enjoying.
According to him, the government should tread with caution and handle the issue with maturity or have the union and the organised labour in the state to contend with.
Osumah described the housing estates, which the workers are currently occupying in parts of the state as civil servants’ quarters, since they were essentially built for the workers by successive administrations in the state, dating back to the administration of the first Military Governor of the state, King Alfred Diete-Spiff.
He said the 700 housing units, which the workers are currently occupying are grossly inadequate, and stressed the need for Governor Wike to build more estates to cater for the over 30,000 civil servants, currently in the payroll of the government.
Osumah also accused the government of double standard, in that it had reportedly ordered the affected workers to renovate the houses recently, an order, which he said they complied with by spending their hard earned monies, stressing that for the same government to now turn around to ask them to quit the houses is unacceptable.
He noted that even if the government offers the workers N40million each to quit the facilities, it still does not equate the hardship and inconveniences which their eviction from the houses would inflict on them, as some of them he said, have lived in the houses for over 25 years.
According to him, pulling the workers out of the houses at this time, is like taking a fish out of its natural habitat.
Osumah said the current economic realities in the country and the concomitant high cost of living would further cripple the workers if they are eventually evicted from the houses, and urged Governor Wike to shelve the eviction plan.
