.Okowa to commission projects at Asaba
By Oye Chukwujekwu,
Asaba
The Delta State government has no immediate plans to recruit fresh hands into the public service but to provide employment indirectly.
The state Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, disclosed this in Government House, Asaba at the second edition of the 2017 Quarterly Chat with journalists drawn from across the state.
Present at the briefing were the Deputy Governor of the state, Kingsley Otuaro; the Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, Kingsley Esiso; commissioners and top government functionaries.
Okowa explained that the current staff strength of the state public service was already overstretched, stressing that with about 60,000 workforce, the state already had three to four times the staff strength of most states in the country.
The governor said that it would be irresponsible as a government to employ more when fewer people were exiting the service, stressing that the dwindling state revenue over the past two years had not helped matters.
He said that his administration had made the payment of workers’ salaries a priority rather than downsize or resort to cut in payment of salary, saying it was the trend in some states in the federation.
The governor also said that his administration had also been tackling the challenge of direct engagement into the public service through trainings, acquisition of skills, monitoring and mentoring, citing the Youth Agricultural Entrepreneurship Programme (YAGEP) as a success story.
His words: “We have many success stories; a case in point was a lady in Sapele who is currently training 19 people. Another in Ethiope West into aquaculture has developed her own hatchery. In Aniocha South, another beneficiary has undergone four cycles in poultry and currently engaged several staff.
“We have continued to provide technical education through our technical schools in Ofagbe, Sapele and Agbor while those at Issele-Uku and Ogor are undergoing renovation. From our eight vocational centres we already have 4,000 persons gainfully engaged and we believe the number will increase. We believe that the way forward is to grow people with the mindset to be confident and independent to hold forth rather than rely on others for sustenance.”
Meanwhile, the Governor of Delta State, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, will on Friday and Saturday this week commission 15 road projects in Asaba.
The Commissioner for Information, Mr. Patrick Ukah, disclosed this during the closing ceremony of the Njiko Aniocha/ Oshmili Cultural Fiesta held at the Oshimili South Local Government Arcade in Asaba.
He noted that despite the poor financial condition of the state, the governor had continued to work for the development of the state, assuring that the whole state would feel the positive impact of this administration sooner than later.
Ukah therefore urged all to continue to support the governor by providing the needed atmosphere for him to serve the people.
On the reason for the summit and cultural fiesta, the Commissioner for Information said that time had come for Aniocha/Oshimili, to look inwards, harness their potentials with a view to achieving even development for all the communities that made up Aniocha/Oshimili.
Ukah revealed that the organizers of the programme were ready to take it to a higher level hence committees will be set up to look into the various presentations by some notable Aniocha/Oshimili sons and daughters with a view to putting efforts together to realize the objectives of the conveners.