Cross River Head Of Service To Sanction 100 Workers For Lateness, Truancy

About 100 erring civil servants in Cross River State Civil Service are to be sanctioned by the office of the Head of Service for truancy, absenteeism, dereliction of duty, lateness to work and other acts of indiscipline.

The Head of Service (HoS) of the state, Dr. Innocent Eteng, disclosed this on Monday while answering questions from journalists shortly at the end of his visit to some Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in Calabar, the State capital.

The HoS, who assumed office barely one week ago, expressed displeasure over what he described as laxity on the part of civil servants and ordered Heads of Administration of about seven MDAs that he visited between 8:30am and 9:00am on Monday to query workers, who were not found at their duty posts and thereafter summit their responses to his office within 24 hours.

MDAs, whose staff are to be sanctioned, include the State Ministry of Health; Lands and Survey; State Planning Commission, and Internal Revenue Services, among others.

“I’m going to discourage that. Am going to ensure that there are sanctions for erring staff. It’s going to be a routine. Monitoring is part of my duty. I want to ensure that MDAs are visited regularly to ensure that staff comes to work early,” the HoS stated.

Eteng stressed that the initiative to visit the MDAs was to enable him to know if workers were really discharging their duties in a manner that could reposition the state to what it used to be.

“When I came on board,I observed that there is so much truancy and laxity on the part of civil servants. Of course, some go to work late; some even leave work before 4pm. It is my effort to re-organise and put the Service back on track to ensure that there is high productivity and efficiency in the Service.

“I see this as very embarrassing. I have directed that tomorrow a meeting be held between my office and all Directors of Administrations in the state civil service. The reason is to warn them against this kind of observed laxity I have seen among staff. Because they have a duty to come to commence work from 8:15am each day and close at 4pm.

“Of course, some go to work late; some even leave work before 4pm. It is my effort to re-organise and put the Service on track to ensure that there is high productivity and efficiency in the service.

“I cannot superintend over a Service that is very relaxed, that is why I am trying to push and ensure that all civil servants come to work early and perform their work optimally,” the HoS declared.

Earlier at State Ministry of Lands, he hailed the Commissioner, Dr. Francis Ekpeyong, for his exemplary life by making himself available at his duty post before 8:30am, urging him to sanction late comers in his ministry.