Bayelsa State Government on Thursday told persons opposed to its ongoing public sector reforms that the move was borne out of Governor Seriake Dickson’s desire to hand over a healthy and productive civil service to his successor.
The government took a swipe on the opposers of the reforms describing them as unpatriotic individuals and groups.
“The government wants anyone who cares to listen that it has a responsibility to clean up a system that has been bastardized by some greedy individuals who over the years have taken advantage of the loopholes in the public service to perpetrate all forms of fraud”, it said.
The State’s Deputy Governor Rear Admiral John Jonah (rtd) made the position of the government known in Yenagoa.
Though he admitted some minor imperfections in the reform process, he said avenues had been provided for anyone addresses all genuine concerns. .
“We have a responsibility to reform the system within the limits of human imperfection. Like every other process we know this is not perfect but we are working to ensure a fair deal for everyone”, he said.
Jonah insisted that the restoration government was working hard to leave behind a robust public service by setting a standard for the next government to leverage on upon resumption.
He said: “We want those opposed to the reforms to know that it is not a witch-hunt but an inevitable exercise to save the public service from near collapse. The government is not selective in the renewed fight against payroll thieves and robbers.
“The right civil service procedures will be followed to disengage those who have either compromised the system in one way or the other or have allowed themselves to be beneficiaries of illegality.
“Contrary to insinuations in some quarters, we are not sacking anybody but those who have been confirmed to have falsified their age, certificates or have promoted themselves arbitrarily will have to go. These are cases that cannot be overlooked.
“However we are mindful of the effect of the action we are taking. So what we are doing is give those affected some form of soft landing by given them 3 months notice or 1 month notice of payment in lieu of their disengagement.
“To show our sincerity in the reforms, we are following the normal procedure as laid out in the civil service rule. As a responsible government we have made it possible for those who due to administrative and humans are caught in the web to seek redress before the judicial commission of inquiry headed by a competent judge”.
While insisting that the ongoing reforms were done with human face, the deputy governor decried the inability of the government to employ fresh hands because of the malfeasance in the system.
Jonah also announced plans to employ more teachers with requisite skills to cover up the shortfall as part of repositioning the education sector and enhance learning in public schools across the state.
He listed some of the support given to the Niger Delta University (NDU) to include monthly subvention, ongoing senate building, among other projects and dismissed reports of neglect of the institution by the government.