UNDER DAVID UMAHI: EBONYI STATE CIVIL SERVICE SUFFERS - WHY ADOL AWAM WILL CHANGE THE STAUS QUO

Ebonyi State’s active workforce is mainly comprised of civil servants, SMEs, and rural farmers in a state of about 3,242,500 people, according to a projection by the National Bureau of Statistics, with a major percentage of urban dwellers in the first two categories.

In 2015, after the assumption of office by Engr. David Umahi as Governor of the State, the salaries of Ebonyi State civil servants were slashed by over 60%. The ripple effect this action had on the purchasing power and living conditions of the civil servants was untold suffering and hardship, many of them who had kids in tertiary schools withdrew them while many ran into debt and others lost their lives.

As a result of the weakened purchasing power of the people, patronage for SMEs was also affected, thereby stagnating a cross-section of business sub-sectors in the SME sector. Another deadly blow was the fact that the state government under his watch had failed to recruit new workers within the past seven years, even after he promised to employ an additional 5000 civil servants on October 1, 2021, according to the NIGERIAN TRIBUNE.

Pensions and gratuities have not been paid while these indigent retirees lose their lives as the day goes by. It is glaring to the blind and audibly loud to the deaf that civil servants in Ebonyi state urgently needs a savior of some sort.

As the people of Ebonyi State prepare to exercise their franchise in the forthcoming general elections in 2023, it is pertinent for the people to understand that the choice of who becomes the next Governor of Ebonyi State is crucial in correcting the impoverishing system of the incumbent government.

The next governor of Ebonyi State come 2023 must be one who is humane, godly, and committed to giving civil servants the right incentives to wade through the skyrocketing surge of inflation and build the right motivation for productivity. This means that the old order and everything associated with it must go.

One who fits this description is the NNPP Gubernatorial Candidate in Ebonyi State, Prophet. Dr. Adol Awam, who has continually pledged his commitment to increasing the salaries of Ebonyi State civil servants to match the surging inflation, clear all outstanding gratuities and pensions, and promote workers accordingly.

Aside from this, Dr. Adol Awam has said on many platforms that the civil service in Ebonyi State under his watch will undergo thorough capacity-building programs to improve efficiency and productivity while infusing digitalization in service discharge.

The civil service in Ebonyi State has gone through a horrible stint of neglect and sheer relegation, with the workers paying the price.

As we head to the polls in 2023, let us arm ourselves with our PVCs to vote in the NNPP and elect Prophet Dr. Adol Awam because he is the only option we can trust.