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Over 3,000 suspended Delta State civil servants, yesterday protested in Asaba the recall of 450 workers by the state government last weekend.
The affected civil servants, who were employed at the twilight of the former governor Emmanuel Uduaghan’s administration in 2014, were suspended when Governor Ifeanyi Okowa took over in 2015 for alleged irregularities in the recruitment process.
However, the government set up a committee late last year to review the employment with a view to recalling the affected workers.
But the list of recall released at the weekend has been greeted with protests by the suspended workers who alleged that over 90 percent of them were excluded from the 450-man list.
In a peaceful protest, the placard-carrying workers alleged that the review process was hijacked by political forces who imported names of their cronies into the recall list, leaving out the genuine workers that were initially suspended.
In a joint statement by the group’s Chairman, Obus Regha; Secretary, Emiajevoke Onokpasa; and Public Relations Officer, Akpochimora Timothy, the affected workers insisted that the recall list has over 90 percent of persons who neither applied for the job nor were screened in 2014.
The group said the list was allegedly doctored at the state civil service commission after the nine-man review committee set up by Governor Okowa had done a thorough job to ensure only qualified workers among the 2014 applicants were recommended for a recall.
They threatened to institute a legal action against the state government if the issue was not revisited to ensure justice for all.
Receiving the protesters at the civil service commission headquarters in Asaba, the Permanent Secretary, Frederick Yoro, assured them that their grievances will be looked into by government.
