GOVERNOR UMO ENO’S HARMONIOUS LABOUR-FRIENDLY MEDLEY
– Samuel Ayara
Every Civil Servant in Akwa Ibom State, including staff of the unified Local Government Service, as you read this have either received or spent the pay bonus, announced by the Governor Umo Eno at an event to mark the 2024 Public Service Week. This is a reflection of the administration’s commitment to partnering the workforce in a mutually beneficial relationship; a departure from the boycott workers in other climes braved.
A plausible gesture for the workers who had more for their expenditures at a time Nigerians are groaning under the weight of a harrowing economic reality that has shrunk the purchasing powers of most families. While this would not be his first effort at reaching out to the workers, it is considered novel, having earlier paid the wage awards in the wake of the fuel subsidy removal and the thirteenth month salary, dubbed “Enomber”.
That gesture at a time workers in the country were up in gloves against the government in the agitation for a review of the national minimum wage must have really been unexpected. His disposition to industrial harmony when the enthalpy of government-labour relations was at an all time high, phenomenally enforces the confidence that the rarity of ability to get past stalemates as a leadership attribute, has got nothing on Governor Eno.
Adding a lunch allowance, presenting brand new operational vehicles to state chairmen of NLC and TUC to the pay bonus must have in ways than few assured the State workforce they had found a leader in rolled-up sleeves they can count on. The thunderous ovation barely waned, when the wonder Governor again came through, allocating 150 out of the 236 units of expandable two-bedroom flats at the Grace Estate to levels 01-08 workers free of charge.
So far modalities for the allocation of these free homes to public servants have been made public by the office of the Head of Civil Service, with an assurance of utmost transparency, as human interface in the process has been reduced to its barest. With this, 150 lucky public servants, who ordinarily could have waited longer and as in most times at retirement, when their gratuities are paid, are on the way to becoming proud owners of homes in a choice estate.
The Governor’s amity for a responsive and productive workforce is rooted in his commitment to securing a conducive workspace; an ideology he signposts by deepening the culture of fairness and equity. In explaining the primacy he accords fairness, who could have predicted the Governor would instruct that no staff of the newly inaugurated Primary Healthcare facilities should be transferred, but allowed to enjoy their new work environment?
Keeping up with pensions and gratuities responsibilities to retirees can easily be explained as government performing its duties, but how much of such duties government in other climes have been able pull through with, should rather be the crux of conversations. This for Governor Eno also includes consequential adjustments geared towards ensuring the pay is commensurate with the economic realities; one of the many ways of preserving the labour of our heroes past.
How Comrade Joe Ajaero the NLC President recently arrived Akwa Ibom for an annual programme of the union without ruffling a feather against the establishment, could sound unbelievable, but that has been the reality of the State Government’s labour ratings. The recently signed National Minimum wage would trigger cold and shivers in some clime, but Governor Eno ahead of the agreement had already given commitment to whatever the national outcome would be.
It is common knowledge that every agitation has a melting pot, and for Ajaero and his labour leaders across Nigeria, there was absolutely no need to launch a campaign for workers’ welfare in Akwa Ibom State. At least, not after the administration has ambitiously stepped up in one year to engaging on numerous fronts, ideas that have made public service in the state both productive and rewarding.
Being a teacher, as was in the years of yore, just got back its pride of place in Akwa Ibom State; their reward is no longer in heaven, but palpable in real time. They are not just beneficiaries of the several financial gestures the government has extended the public workforce, but have taken more through the novel wardrobe allowance initiative, in addition to having a work environment that can optimize their output.
These labour-friendly strides on several counts justify the long-held aphorism that “a workman deserves his wages”. Under Governor Umo Eno, workers rather than complain about withheld entitlements, which the current economic climate could have excused, are getting more, even without asking. Swinging in what appears as an unending season of happiness, the harmonious labour-friendly medley from the Governor’s ARISE Agenda, is a well thought-out symphony.
There could not have been a better time for public servants to consider themselves as deserving partners and co-travelers in the Akwa Ibom project than in the Golden era administration. How soon and well they reciprocate these gestures through maximizing their delivery and productivity is a response the World keenly watches.
Samuel Ayara writes from Ibong Otoro in Abak LGA.
