A former Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Honourable Victor Ochei, has called on state governors to ensure productive governance aimed at improving the standard of living for the people.
Honourable Ochei, who appeared on Channels Television’s Politics Today, stressed that governors must prioritise the welfare of the people and ensure that the dividend of democracy was evenly distributed.
“This is not a time to run a government as a business or social business. It has to be a business run on a profitable venture,” he said on Wednesday.
“Now, look at your workforce; do you actually have what you need, or you are doing it as a social service that ‘well, whoever comes let us accommodate’? And there are people who are paid salaries of work they don’t do.”
The former speaker was worried that some workers were receiving salaries for the service they have not rendered, and called for a thorough probe of the civil service.
He said, “There are people who don’t even have a seat in their offices, yet they collect salaries at the end of the month. I am not saying you should go sacking them, but you need to do an audit as a state government,” he said.
On the unpaid salaries of workers, Ochei said, “If you are going to deal with the salaries of your paid workers who are engaged by the state government, you need now to look at your workforce critically. Do you actually need the workforce you have and if you don’t need them, what are you doing to ensure you are viable enough to pay those who work for you?
“Every worker is worthy of his reward. That is why he wakes up in the morning and goes out to work for you for eight hours minimum and ensures he earns a salary at the end of the month,” he added.