Former labour leader accuses Delta government of illegal recruitment
By Dave Okpogadie, Asaba
Former Delta state Labour Chairman and Special Adviser to former Governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, Comr. Mike Okeme has accused the Delta state government of recruiting into the civil service without following the guidelines of the civil service commission rules.
Comrade Okeme, who was also a Special Adviser to Governnor Okowa on Labour, while speaking to journalists in Asaba, raised alarm over the sorry situation in the Delta state civil service commission saying the commission has embarked on”backyard recruitment”.
He said a lot of people have been recruited into the civil service through the “backyard”, a situation he said has never happened in the history of civil service anywhere in Nigeria.
Comrade Okeme said the rules and regulations guiding the civil service commission have been disregarded in the illegal recruitment just to recruit sacred cows.
According to Okeme, ” one woman they call mama government is the one ravaging the civil service, a nurse heading such a commission. This is not done anywhere in the country.”
He said, Governor Uduagha administration employed 1000 civil servants into the service in different capacities, and that they have worked for three months without payment when Okowa administration assumed office and they were laid off.
According to Okeme, about 400 of the 1000 former Governor Uduagha recruited were later absorbed while the remaining 600 are still waiting and the government is recruiting from nowhere.
He said in civil service, before government do recruitment, they place advert, saying they came into the civil service through advert from then Bendel state but ” now no interview, you are selected for the prerogative of somebody”.
He said the civil service commission is the builder of ethics that builds people intelligence and morals.
He urged the Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa to investigate how people are coming through the “backdoor” into the civil service and those that are behind it.
When contacted to react to allegation, the state commissioner for information, Mr. Charle Aniagwu dismissed the allegations saying there is nothing of such going on in the civil service commission.
