Cross River Governor Bassey Otu has promised to clear the backlog of retirees’ gratuities in the state before the year ends.
He assured civil servants of better welfare package by improving workers’ working conditions as well as make life meaningful to them.
Otu, who made the statement during the swearing-in ceremony of New Head of Service of the state Dr. Innocent Eteng.
The state chief executive said, “It is saddening that someone would serve for 35 years, save for a rainy day, and then die for lack of cash to attend to their health needs,” insisting that “such ugly trend must stop.”
“We want the civil servants to be focused in their places of assignment, knowing that their contributory pension is due them at the end of the day. Because without these people, continuity in governance would not be possible.”
Otu acknowledged the depletion of personnel especially the older and more experienced ones in the service, informed that his administration was looking for a way to retain some of those retirees in order to mentor and transfer knowledge to the younger generation of civil servants.
While congratulating the new Head of Service, Otu said, “To whom much is given, much is expected. You are coming at a very precarious time where the state civil service is at the brink. We want you to rejig and put things in proper perspectives.”
“Dr. Eteng, we want to build a smart civil service. You will understand that we do not play politics with civil servants. The bureaucracy is very important as the engine of government, so we want you to rejig and put it in proper perspectives. Due process must be prioritised at all times,” the governor said.
In his earlier remarks, Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Anthony Owan Enoh, said Dr. Eteng, who until his appointment was serving in the SSG’s office as Permanent Secretary, is someone who has risen to the echelon of the civil service not by sponsorship, but by achievement and dint of hard work.
In his reaction to the commendation, Eteng expressed happiness and lauded Governor Otu for finding him worthy of the onerous assignment of recalibrating and reforming the state civil service, assuring of his best.
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