The Commissioner for Information and Culture Prince Okey Kanu disclosed this on Monday while briefing the Journalists on the outcome of this week’s State Executive Council meeting presided over by Governor Alex Otti.
He said that it is expected that all workers in the state ought to have been verified by now having extended the verification exercise by two weeks.
He revealed that the verification exercise started in July but informed that there are still some workers who have yet to participate in the exercise.
The commissioner added that the names of the unverified staff had been put up in the MDAs, adding that they are expected to submit their documents to their heads of establishments, who would in turn hand over the same to the verification committee.
“We expect that everybody that is a staff in the State ought to have been verified. We have a good number of people that haven’t done that. Some didn’t appear at all, some did and could not complete for various reasons”, he said.
Kanu also said that the 197 schools recently shut down by the State Government have been given a window of opportunity to get their act together, adding that those that meet the guidelines may be reopened.
According to him, the Government has set a target date for compliance, stressing that those committed to meeting the standard would be reopened.
“So Government is carrying out reforms, Government set a certain standard. Government has a target base to ensure that all the schools in the State are complying but those in the private sector have not committed themselves in such a manner.
“The major reason the government decided to shut down those schools is principally because of substandard in their curriculum and quality of teachers and some of them because of environment. So that’s the reason we said those who are committed to changing the way they operate and can meet the standards that Government has set up, Government will allow them to get back to work.”
He said that the Abia State Government would soon launch a Whistle Blower policy, which according to him would mark a significant milestone in the State Government’s effort to do things differently.
In his remark, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Special Duties, Dr. Betty Emeka Obasi, advised that all unverified workers go to their MDAs with their documents to back their claims.
She said, “As many as found their names there, ought to have gone back to their MDAs as we said, take the documents backing their claims that they ought to have been verified to their head of the unit. The head of the unit should further send these documents to the body that is doing the verification.
“From this month, if you are unverified you won’t get a salary, because it is a government that has a human face, we have decided to open it to the end of the year. You can still go back to your Ministry for corrections to be made”, she said.
She revealed that the government decided to remove unverified staff from the payroll because the Governor Otti-led government is compassionate, otherwise, the affected staff should ordinarily be prosecuted for taking salaries without being duly recognised as bonafide workers of the Abia State Government.
Also speaking, the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Prince Uzor Nwachukwu said that the LGA transition committee chairmen/Mayors would be sworn in on Thursday this week and expressed the hope that with their coming, the grassroots would begin to witness more development as funds meant for the Local Council’s would be used to work for them.
