Barely three days after the oversight visit of the Ad-Hoc Committee of the House of Representatives on Rivers State Administration, a Group, Coalition for Civil Service Reforms (CCSR), has paid great tribute to the Sole Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (Rtd.), acknowledging the reforms of the Civil Service and reviving ailing decayed infrastructures and failing systems in the state.
In a statement signed by the National President, Comrade LarryKing Amos, and made available to newsmen on Sunday; the Coalition said, aside the ongoing civil service reforms and the many interventions, the Sole Administrator has also been regular in payment of salaries, putting the welfare of workers forward in the state.
The Coalition averred that, “such laudable interventions and welfare is responsible for the high spirits and great motivations of the civil servants, which is by extension, responsible for the peace, unity and harmonious relationship between the Labour Force and the state government, in the last few months”.
While thanking the House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee for acknowledging the many efforts of the Sole Administrator in the civil service sector, the Coalition also said the observation of the near collapse structures of the State Secretariat where the Civil Servants always scamper for safety due to death state, and the charge to quickly overhaul it, was an answer to a decade-long prayers of workers in the state.
“As a group that has been clamouring for reforms in the civil service sector in Nigeria, we have written series of letters to the former Governor of Rivers, when our members from the state sent an SoS to us, alerting us about the , deplorable state of the House of Assembly Complex, the Civil Service Commission and the State Secretariat, especially the 6th and 7th floors, which is literally unfit for human occupation due to life-threatening conditions.
“But since the inception of this current administration, the feelers we have got from the State shows a man who is intentional about the safety and welfare of civil servants. We have taken cognisance of the many laudable interventions of the Sole Administrator, His Excellency, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas; and this gladdens our hearts. For the first time in a long while, we are having a government who has brought succour and restored hope to the civil servants in Rivers State.
“We must, on a very serious note, appreciate the House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee, for approving the urgent renovation of the State Secretariat, the building that warehouses civil servants in the State. This intervention is not only timely, it is life saving and as such, calls for commendations”, the Coalition added.
It would be recalled that, the House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee, on Wednesday, mandated an immediate overhaul of the crumbling Rivers State Secretariat complex and the urgent relocation of civil servants from unsafe work environments.
The directive followed an emergency inspection led by the House Leader and Committee Chairman, Professor Julius Ihonvbere, who assessed the deplorable conditions of the State Secretariat and the stalled Rivers State House of Assembly project.
Professor Ihonvbere described the Secretariat as being in a state worse than facilities in war-torn Gaza, pointing to structural hazards, crumbling floor tiles, leaking roofs, exposed electrical wiring, and a complete absence of basic amenities, including functional toilets, drinking water, and proper furniture.
The committee, therefore, ordered the immediate closure of hazardous floors and the relocation of staff to secure alternative office spaces.