The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has asked the state Head of Service, Dr. Gbenga Faseluka, to take appropriate disciplinary action against 31 civil servants who resumed late to work on Monday. The governor gave the directive when he paid an unscheduled visit to the state secretariat on Monday. Fayose, who arrived at the place around 7.45am caught many of the workers who arrived after the official resumption time of 8a.m unawares. Many of the workers rushed to work on learning about the unscheduled visit of the governor to the place while the 31 were unlucky to beat the governor. As soon as the governor arrived at the place, he ordered that the gate should be locked at 8am.
The governor, who expressed displeasure at the attitude of some workers in the state, said such an act of indiscipline must be stopped. He ordered his aides and the Head of Service to take down the names of the affected workers and that stern disciplinary action must be taken against them. Several of the female workers knelt down while the men prostrated for the governor begging him to save their job. But Fayose said:
“If a labourer is worth his wages, the employer also is worth his services. I have warned workers in the state repeatedly about coming late to work or taking their jobs with laxity. Despite the paucity of funds, we have been regularly paying workers’ salaries.
“If workers are paid regularly, the workers too must justify our efforts and work for the money they earn. There are many people out there searching for jobs. I want to take the workers by surprise and I will visit a lot of places. This will be a continuous exercise. Those that are not disciplined and not ready to key in to our policy of taking the state to a greater height will be shown the way out,” he said.
The governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Idowu Adelusi, told our correspondent that the governor had earlier appealed to the workers to show commitment to the service.
“For long he (the governor) has been warning them against idleness and lateness. He had sent the HOS to them to change their way. The governor was on a fact-finding mission to know if the workers had heeded his advice,” he said.
Adelusi added that the governor planned to pay unscheduled visits to the local governments any moment from now. He said:
“It would be a continuous exercise. The governor wants the Ekiti State Civil Service to be a model for others.”
When contacted for his reaction at 1.33pm, the Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Mr. Ade Adesanmi, promised to call back after five minutes. However, he did not pick the calls placed to his telephone again between 4:30pm and 4.32pm.
One word: Discipline!