Politics

Cross River labour demands streamlining of MDAs, staff audit

The Cross River chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) on Wednesday called for the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), in the State to be streamlined to a manageable size to reduce the cost of governance.

The unions, which made the call in Calabar at a meeting with Governor, Bassey Otu, presented a 21-point demand document signed by Mr Olayi Gregory of the NLC and Sir Monday Ogbodum of the TUC, to the governor.

In the 21-point demand, the trade unions said that with the current high cost of governance, there was need for a drastic action to be taken against the background of the state’s dwindling revenue.

They called on Governor Otu to save the state cost and the embarrassment, where most of the MDAs operated from rented accommodation.

They also demanded a drastic reduction in the use of consultants they claimed had rendered civil servants redundant, as well as providing an avenue for capital flight from the State.

The two unions equally demanded that the state internally generated revenue should be used strictly for the development of the State and not for political settlement.

In addition, the unions which also demanded a regular interface with the government, called for the personnel audit of the entire civil service in Cross River State.

“Cross River is one of the 12 states created in 1967, yet, some of the MDAs are still operating from rented accommodation.

“There is need to complete the abandoned secretariat started by Liyel Imoke’s administration to provide a decent workplace to help promote efficiency and productivity towards service delivery, as well as save cost and embarrassment from rented offices.

“Civil Servants in the State can deliver on target provided they are given adequate materials and conducive work environment,” the unions stated.

Other demands made by the unions included t6 resuscitation of the state Water Board, strengthening of the State Forestry Commission, in addition to strengthening of the depleted civil service.

Meanwhile, Governor Otu has proposed a holistic audit of the State workforce that would be carried out with the involvement of the DSS.

The governor said that he was shocked by the increase in the nominal roll after being briefed that over 40 percent of the workforce had retired.

He said that the exercise which is to be conducted by a federal agency would help to forestall all forms of irregularities noticed in the staff payroll system across board.

“We have resolved that everybody should go to the Department of State Services for verification and screening so that if your paper has some issues, from there you can go to court.

“That will be the best for us because the exercise will ensure that biometrics and other necessary screening requirements are conducted to check all forms of irregularities and abnormalities in line with relevant civil service rules and labour laws. In the end, we will know the actual staff strength in Cross River.

“Personnel audit has been a little bit of a tricky area. So, we need to put our heads together to produce a holistic payroll system, and I strongly solicit your maximum cooperation.

“When I assumed office, I was informed that so many persons have retired, but when I now looked at the payroll, I saw even more staff than last month.

“I was wondering if so many have retired as recorded, why we should now have such a humongous number in the payroll with an attendant huge wage bill,” the governor wondered.

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