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The Bayelsa State Government has formalized the employment of 904 casual staff in the various ministries, departments and agencies in the state.
This is in addition to the 1,000 workers, first class graduates from various disciplines, PhD and Master’s degrees holders from Ijaw-speaking communities across the country earlier injected into the state civil service and state-owned higher institutions of learning.
Making this known during the ongoing screening exercise and placement of the new staff, the chairman of the state civil service, Dr. Peter Singabele hinged the success on the ongoing public service reforms in the state.
He said the reforms successfully uncovered discrepancies like fake credentials, age falsification, fraud, grade level and step theft, among others, creating space for the employment of young and competent graduates into the civil service.
The chairman of the state’s civil service commission said the ongoing employment is only a formalization process to absorb the beneficiaries into the public service as some have been working for more than 10 years, contributing immensely to the development of the state.
Dr. Singabele commended Governor Seriake Dickson for approving the increase in the number of casual staff from 863 to 904, noting that through this he has brought succuor to Bayelsans working without adequate pay.
“People think we are recruiting new staff to the civil service. It’s not a fresh appointment exercise, rather it is a formalization of temporary appointment because most of you seated here have been working in ministries, agencies as casual or temporary workers, maybe on a monthly pay of 10,000, some even less.
“Governor Dickson in his wisdom said these people are contributing a lot to the state and therefore decided to approve formalization of the appointment.
“You will recall that sometimes not too long ago he approved the appointment of 1,000 new staff and the process is a long one. They went through lots of exams and interviews. But in your own case you are very lucky because we are only formalizing the appointment. You are not writing any exam, very easy entry into the service.”
He stressed that the formalization of casual staff signals the end of casualisation in the state in line with Governor Dickson’s pronouncement proscribing casualization of any Bayelsan, a move that has helped in correcting the mistake of the previous administration.
Dr. Singabele however urged them to make loyalty, dedication and hard-work their watchword, as well to be guided by rules and regulations of the civil service as truancy, absenteeism and other forms of misconduct may lead to their dismissal.
On the issue of omitted casual staff, he explained that it was not the fault of the commission as their names may not have been submitted by their employers or not cleared by the commission, urging all those affected to visit the commission to be verified by the committee that visited their employers.