By Abiola Olawale
Governor Alex Otti of Abia State has disclosed that his administration currently has no plans to increase the workforce in the state’s civil service.
The Governor who spoke during a monthly interactive session with the media said that employment is currently not on the front burner of his administration.
According to him, the number of persons in the civil service was still very high even after verification. He noted that the state has a huge wage bill of about four billion naira for both local government and state monthly.
He, however, stated that the issue of employment would arise when the government finished dealing with what it met in the civil service.
The governor also assured that the government was working assiduously on improving and enhancing the pay for the civil servants.
He said: “So, it may not be a priority at this time to open up the doors to bring in new people, except if we have a way of exiting a few people.
“But you know with the civil service rules, it is not going to be very easy to exit people.
“What we are trying to do with the establishment of the Civil Service Commission and resumption of the new Head of Service and new Permanent Secretaries is to ensure that our people are adequately trained.
“This is to enable them to operate their skills and perform better.”
