Okowa Pledges Continued Workers’ Welfare, Meets State Counsels

Delta Governor, Sen. (Dr) Ifeanyi Okowa, on Tuesday, said he would continue to place high premium on the welfare of workers in the state till the end of his administration.

He said that he would ensure that through prompt payment of salaries, training and re-training programmes to strengthen the workers’ productivity.

Okowa disclosed this at an interactive session with State Counsels in the Ministry of Justice held at the Unity Hall, Government House, Asaba.

He said that he held the workforce of the state in high esteem, adding that it was for this reason that his administration decided to build an ultra modern state secretariat complex named after the Asagba of Asaba, Obi Prof. Chike Edozien.

He added that the secretariat was built to provide a conducive working environment for workers to enhance their operational efficiency in service delivery while stimulating their loyalty to the state government.

“I truly hold the work force of Delta State high. It has always been in my thought that we needed to make the work a conducive environment because then, their loyalty to government, their loyalty to the work and their ethics will definitely be better for it,” the governor said.

He noted that training and re-training of law officers and all persons in the state civil service was very important and key, and advised that training and re-training of workers was an area that the Head of Service should look into as a very important aspect of capacity-building.

According to him, we must find a way to ensure that they (workers) are trained and re-trained and also to ensure that such trainings make meaning, are impactful and can truly drive the best from the civil servants so that civil servants could be in a position where they can become more impactful in the society.

He maintained that the essence of training and re-training programmes was to build capacity of the trainees, adding that such programmes were not primarily meant for pecuniary interest of the trainees.

“Training and re-training of law officers and all persons in the civil service is very important and key. This is an area l believe the HOS not just the office of the Attorney General, must begin to look into as a very important aspect of every law officer and civil servants.

“We must find a way to ensure that they are trained and re-trained and also to ensure that such training makes meaning, that such trainings are impactful and can truly drive the best from the civil service so that the civil servant would be in a position where he or she can become more impactful in the society.

“The Nigerian society today is such that there is craze for money. I am not saying that it is wrong to have money but that craze for money takes a part of us out of us; so, the human nature leaves us because the true human nature as God created us is to offer our best to the people.

“But unfortunately, you begin to see situations where even civil servants and public servants generally even including the political class, when they travel out of the country for training or even within the country, you will realise that they are not interested in the training.

“Their interest is more on the allowances that they get. So, they don’t even care whether they have improved through such training.

“That should not be. But are we entitled to our allowances? Yes, but that training is more important than that allowance because it helps to improve you and prepares you for a greater opportunity in the future.

“I pray God that we are able to truly reform the service in such a manner that we can be proud as we move on to the positions of Directors and Assistant Directors where we can be proud of ourselves that we have knowledge that we can impart on the younger ones.

“There is a lot to be done in the civil service in terms of training. So, l truly wish that beyond the regular trainings that you organise, that even at the departmental levels, Directors should be able to create sessions for real interactions with those that work with them because it will really help to improve the people a lot,” he said.

Meanwhile, the governor applauded the Attorney General of the state and Commissioner for Justice, Isaiah Bozimo for being able to organise the interactive session and for his immense contributions to justice delivery system in the state through the various judicial reforms that he had initiated.

“l want to use this opportunity to thank not just the Attorney General but the Head of Service and all workers of the Delta State Government.

“We may not have been able to meet all the needs of the workers but we will continue to do our best. The last time l had an interactive session with workers, a lot of issues were raised.

“We have done the best that we can. Yes, there are still a few things that we can do in the next two months but it is practically impossible to do everything that everybody wants to be done.

“We should be doing our best for the Government of the state and doing our best for the people of Delta State because whatever we do, eventually will impact on the lives of Deltans.

“So, for all other achievements that the Attorney General has spoken about and other persons have talked about, l want to congratulate all of you as l congratulate the office of the Attorney General for making live better for people,” he said.

Earlier, the State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Isaiah Bozimo said the ground breaking meeting with the governor was to brainstorm on the achievements recorded by the Ministry of Justice and how to improve on the performance of the ministry.

Bozimo outlined Bills drafted by the State Ministry of Justice to include Delta State Administration of Criminal Justice Bill; Delta State Arbitration Bill; Delta State Judiciary Fund Management Law and the Delta State Livestock Breeding, Rearing and Marketing Regulation Law.

Others according to him, are Delta State Electric Power Sector Reform Bill and Delta State Administrative Procedure Law.

On human trafficking and sexual offences, the Attorney General said 10 persons have been convicted on sexual offences adding that four human traffickers have been arrested, even as he said that 14 victims were referred to rehabilitation centre.