By Felix Ofou and Nelson Egware
There is palpable fear among top civil servants in Delta State following the threat by the Governor, Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori to expose those who have altered their age to remain in the system.
The Governor made the threat while frowning at the attitude of some civil servants in the state who engage in age falsification with the dubious intent to prolong their years of service.
He warned those involved to desist from such dubious act or face severe sanctions while threatening to expose those engaged in such nefarious activities.
Oborevwori handed down the warning on Tuesday evening at a dinner organised by the state government for the College of Permanent Secretaries, led by the State Head of Service, Mr. Reginald Bayoko; Heads of Extra Ministerial Departments; Directors and Deputy Directors in the state civil service which was held at the Event Centre, Asaba.
The Governor said any civil servant who had attained the age of retirement should retire from the service so as to create opportunity for younger ones to be employed, adding that civil servants should always enter their real age in their documentations.
He expressed appreciation to workers in the state for the love they had shown to his administration, pointing out that they should continue to support its policies and programmes for the overall growth and development of the state.
“If you know you have attained retirement age, please, retire so that the younger ones could be employed into the civil service. You should use your real age so that people can grow in the system. When you are old, please allow the young ones to take over.
“I thank you for the love you people have shown to this administration. Let us continue to work together for the growth and development of the state,” the Governor added.
Continuing, he said: “Today’s dinner is in fulfilment of the promise l made during our meeting of January 29, this year. We have come to interact and share experiences.
“I think it is important l update you on some of the matters arising from our last meeting where a lot of issues were raised. First is the issue of poor telephone network in the Prof. Chike Edozien State Secretariat Complex among others,” he said.
As part of deliberate effort to mitigate the issue of poor telephone network at the new state secretariat, the Governor said he had directed the Commissioner for Science and Technology and his Special Duties counterpart to ensure that the issue was nipped in the bud before the end of March, 2025.
“We are looking at the suggestions that you people made during our meeting of January 29, this year, with a view to seeing how we can implement some of the suggestions that are useful to the effective running of the state civil service,” he said.
While saying that the state had a workforce of over 60,000 with a monthly wage bill of over N16 billion monthly, the Governor appealed to Permanent Secretaries, Heads of Extra Ministerial Departments, Directors and Deputy Directors to continue to discharge their duties diligently and professionally.
Governor Oborevwori, said; “we will follow due process in appointing a new Head of Service when the time comes, and, in due course, more Permanent Secretaries will be appointed,” stressing that the appointment of Permanent Secretaries was by merit and vacancy.
The Governor, who disclosed that the state government was not owing any of its contractors, said, “recently, we did 40 per cent mobilisation to our contractors. The problem we are having is not the multinationals; it is our local contractors.
“The local contractors cannot shortchange the state, if the site supervising engineers are doing their work. If the site supervising engineers are doing their work well, there will be no point for me to go to site for project supervision.
“I am going to go round the 25 local government areas to inspect various projects being executed by the state government. If you are praying that l should not come, you are deceiving yourself. Any contractor who is doing a bad work will refund the money paid to him.”
While reiterating that his administration had not borrowed since it came on board, he said a lot had been achieved in the socio-economic growth and development of the state.
Checks by Delta Revealed indicate that at least top four directors have hurriedly submitted their letters of retirement as a result of the threat by the Governor, with hints that many more may follow.
Although it was not clear whether the four directors who submitted letters for voluntary retirement are above 60 years, which is the prescribed age for exit from the service, our source claimed that they may have reached the border of 35 years, which is the other requirement for leaving the system.
Meanwhile, a lot of junior and middle level civil servants were said to be happy with Governor Oborevwori’s stand on age falsification, stressing that the policy will pave way for rapid upward promotion and create room for intake of new staff into the civil service.
(C) New Media Office
