Our fears for Nasarawa
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- Category: Comments
- Written by Faith Daniel
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Critics have accused the incumbent administration in the state, particularly some of its top officials, of hardly demonstrating the required discipline and maturity to reinvent the wheels of governance that could accelerate its socio-political and economic development. While the state lies prostrate on account of deficiency in real developmental terms, the top officials of the administration are bickering over the spoils of office.
Come to think of it, some few beneficiaries of this administration in moments of giddiness have described the state helmsman as democrat who is out to ‘’right the wrongs’’ of the previous administration in the state. The questions that naturally come to mind are: is the governor really a democrat? Is Al-Makura truly ‘the face of hope’ for Nasarawa, or is he just a smokescreen?
It is now an open secret that the only developmental initiative of the current administration is the patching of few Lafia township roads. What is happening in the state today is a sad commentary on leadership.
Almost a year after he took office, Al-Makura has not been able to find his bearing in the art of governance, so much so that his nascent administration is characterised by in-fighting, mistrust and incoherence, a development that necessitated the recent resignation of his chief of Staff.
In his desperation to maintain a firm grip on the state’s civil service, Al-Makura, early in the life of his administration fired 17 out of the state’s 25 permanent secretaries and allegedly replaced them with inexperienced CPC loyalists. He followed it up with the transfer of all local government Directors of Personnel to local government service commission and replaced same with inexperienced party loyalists.
Sometimes last year, ASUP members in the state from College of Education, Akwanga, State Polytechnic and College of Agriculture, all in Lafia went on strike over non-payment of new salary scheme negotiated with the state government.
Even the payment of new minimum wage that was supposed to commence from April 2011 but was delayed till August 2011 is still enmeshed in a seemingly intractable crisis. The four months arrears which the governor promised to pay in instalments starting from September 2011 has been abandoned, with the government still owing the workers. The allegations that the government has compromised the Asoloko Maku-led Nigeria Labour Congress are yet to be proved.
The governor’s unfriendly worker policy seems to have extended to the housing sector, where the government has upped payments for 1-bedroom; 2-bedroom; 3-bedroom and 3-bedroom apartment with Boys Quarters from N10,000; N30,000; N70,000 and N120,000 (under Doma era) to N80,000; N120,000; N216,000 and N300,000 respectively per annum. The astronomical increase has set the workers on a warpath with the government.
Promotion is another contentious issue in the relationship between the government and the workers. For one to qualify for promotion in the state civil service, certain conditions must be met, to wit: written and oral interview, which must be subject to availability of vacancies. This is rather strange. Even at the federal level, it is only promotion for officers at the directorate cadre that is subject to availability of vacancies, and not officers on the lower cadre.
Close watchers of events in the state opine that the incumbent administration is the slowest in terms of decision-taking since the state was created and that the ruling CPC is currently paralyzed as a result of inactivity. This untoward situation triggered a letter from some alarmed apparatchiks of CPC to the governor. The letter, dated 20th November, 2011 warned the governor that the party and by extension, the state was gradually grinding to a halt.
Unemployment is rife among indigenes and, instead of finding solution(s) to this problem, the governor elected to compound it by sacking five thousand workers from both the state and local government service.
The angst among the people is both palpable and pervasive for understandable reasons. It is evidently premised on the perception that the governor and his government are too detached from them.
Nasarawa State, in spite of the media hype orchestrated by the administration’s defenders, still lies crestfallen like an abandoned hut. After almost one year of sleep-walking, while other states are running, the state is desperately in need of a capable, prudent and selfless leader.
Daniel, Secretary of Nasarawa State Surveillance Group, wrote from Lafia
Articles
Our fears for Nasarawa
Category: Comments Written by Faith Daniel Hits: 2846
Critics have accused the incumbent administration in the state, particularly some of its top officials, of hardly demonstrating the required discipline and maturity to reinvent the wheels of governance that could accelerate its socio-political and economic development. While the state lies prostrate on account of deficiency in real developmental terms, the top officials of the administration are bickering over the spoils of office.
Come to think of it, some few beneficiaries of this administration in moments of giddiness have described the state helmsman as democrat who is out to ‘’right the wrongs’’ of the previous administration in the state. The questions that naturally come to mind are: is the governor really a democrat? Is Al-Makura truly ‘the face of hope’ for Nasarawa, or is he just a smokescreen?
It is now an open secret that the only developmental initiative of the current administration is the patching of few Lafia township roads. What is happening in the state today is a sad commentary on leadership.
Almost a year after he took office, Al-Makura has not been able to find his bearing in the art of governance, so much so that his nascent administration is characterised by in-fighting, mistrust and incoherence, a development that necessitated the recent resignation of his chief of Staff.
In his desperation to maintain a firm grip on the state’s civil service, Al-Makura, early in the life of his administration fired 17 out of the state’s 25 permanent secretaries and allegedly replaced them with inexperienced CPC loyalists. He followed it up with the transfer of all local government Directors of Personnel to local government service commission and replaced same with inexperienced party loyalists.
Sometimes last year, ASUP members in the state from College of Education, Akwanga, State Polytechnic and College of Agriculture, all in Lafia went on strike over non-payment of new salary scheme negotiated with the state government.
Even the payment of new minimum wage that was supposed to commence from April 2011 but was delayed till August 2011 is still enmeshed in a seemingly intractable crisis. The four months arrears which the governor promised to pay in instalments starting from September 2011 has been abandoned, with the government still owing the workers. The allegations that the government has compromised the Asoloko Maku-led Nigeria Labour Congress are yet to be proved.
The governor’s unfriendly worker policy seems to have extended to the housing sector, where the government has upped payments for 1-bedroom; 2-bedroom; 3-bedroom and 3-bedroom apartment with Boys Quarters from N10,000; N30,000; N70,000 and N120,000 (under Doma era) to N80,000; N120,000; N216,000 and N300,000 respectively per annum. The astronomical increase has set the workers on a warpath with the government.
Promotion is another contentious issue in the relationship between the government and the workers. For one to qualify for promotion in the state civil service, certain conditions must be met, to wit: written and oral interview, which must be subject to availability of vacancies. This is rather strange. Even at the federal level, it is only promotion for officers at the directorate cadre that is subject to availability of vacancies, and not officers on the lower cadre.
Close watchers of events in the state opine that the incumbent administration is the slowest in terms of decision-taking since the state was created and that the ruling CPC is currently paralyzed as a result of inactivity. This untoward situation triggered a letter from some alarmed apparatchiks of CPC to the governor. The letter, dated 20th November, 2011 warned the governor that the party and by extension, the state was gradually grinding to a halt.
Unemployment is rife among indigenes and, instead of finding solution(s) to this problem, the governor elected to compound it by sacking five thousand workers from both the state and local government service.
The angst among the people is both palpable and pervasive for understandable reasons. It is evidently premised on the perception that the governor and his government are too detached from them.
Nasarawa State, in spite of the media hype orchestrated by the administration’s defenders, still lies crestfallen like an abandoned hut. After almost one year of sleep-walking, while other states are running, the state is desperately in need of a capable, prudent and selfless leader.
Daniel, Secretary of Nasarawa State Surveillance Group, wrote from Lafia