Organised labour tasks Cross River to cut down MDAs

The organized labor has tasked the Cross River government to cut down the number of government Ministries, Departments and Agencies(MDAs) to reduce the cost of governance.
This is containing a 21-point demands jointly signed by Mr Olayi Gregory of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Mr Monday Ogbodum of the Trade Union Congress(TUC) and presented to Gov. Bassey Otu at a meeting on Wednesday in Calabar.
“Cross River is one of the 12 states created in 1967, yet, some of the MDAs are still operating from rented accommodation.
“There is need to complete the abandoned secretariat started by Liyel Imoke’s administration to provide a decent work place to help promote efficiency and productivity towards service delivery, as well as save cost and embarrassment from rented offices.
“Civil servants in the state can deliver on target provided they are given adequate materials and conducive work environment.”
Responding, Otu assured of conducting an audit of the state workforce to ascertain the actual number of workers.
He expressed shock on the increase in the nominal roll after being briefed that over 40 per cent of the work force had retired.
“We have resolved that everybody should go to the Department of State Services for verification and screening so that if your papers have issues, from there you can go to court.
“That will be the best for us because the exercise will ensure that biometrics and other necessary screening requirements are conducted to check all forms of irregularities and abnormalities in line with relevant civil service rules and labour laws.
“In the end, we will know the actual staff strength in Cross River. Personnel audit has been a little bit of a tricky area. So, we need to put our heads together to produce a holistic payroll system, and I strongly solicit your maximum cooperation.
“When I assumed office, I was informed that so many people have retired, but when I now looked at the payroll, I saw even more staff than last month,” he said.