Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State has approved the 2023 promotion and conversion exercises for qualified civil servants in the state even as the Chairman of the Enugu State Civil Service Commission (ESCSC), Mr. Robinson Odo, applauded the governor for keeping to his promises to prioritize workers’ welfare and improve their standard of living.
The Chairman, who disclosed the new development during an internal briefing of members of the commission at its Enugu office, said the governor did not waste time to approve the request to conduct this year’s promotion and conversion exercises for civil servants who would be due for promotion at the end of the year, adding that more civil servants would be upgraded from lower cadres to higher cadres in the conversion process which would upwardly reflect in their incomes.
He said the news of the exercises would delight civil servants, spur them to put more efforts and discharge their duties with commitment, dedication and zeal to serve the state selflessly.
“This news is coming at the right time when this administration is talking about disruptive innovation, e-governance, digitalization, efficiency, optimal performance in order to achieve its $30 billion-dollar economy, achieve zero poverty headcount and increase the economic base of the people. Civil servants will not have any excuse not to discharge their duties efficiently and creditably with the governor keeping to his promises,” the chairman noted.
Similarly, the commission had, through a circular, informed the various heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) on the need to convey the same to staff working under them and to ensure only qualified staff partake in the exercises.
“We have already issued circulars inviting promotion briefs from Ministries, Departments and Agencies, giving them November 30th as deadline for the submission of briefs,” the retired ranking permanent secretary said.
Commending the governor for the improved welfares of civil servants in the state, Mr. Odo said the government had already pointed to a positive direction in eradicating poverty through series of civil servants-friendly policies it was rolling out to strengthen the institution and empower staff across MDAs.
He further stressed that the governor had cleared the backlogs of pensions it inherited, kept its promise of paying retired state and local government workers, and had set the wheel of defraying gratuities in motion.
“We have no doubts in our minds that this year’s exercises would be successful as everything is set. As I noted earlier, we had written to the MDAs in this regard. We are using this opportunity to invite qualified civil servants to avail themselves of this opportunity that presents itself at this auspicious time for the promotion and conversion exercises.
“This is, in fact, like a Christmas gift to civil servants because most of them were saying the government was just new and that the governor might be distracted by the unprecedented task of rebuilding a new Enugu State. However, the governor has assured that he would not be distracted by anything that would not contribute to human growth and development. He has, indeed, identified the human capital development as one of the greatest assets that would drive the economy and enhance strong institutions.
“On our part, we will keep instilling discipline in the service with commitment to exact creativity, meritocracy of ideas and bank of intellectual reservoir that would help this administration to succeed,” the chairman added.
According to him, despite the huge works that were presently ongoing in areas of critical infrastructure, education, water, healthcare system, environmental sanitation, the governor was still carrying out massive training of workers, paying them regularly and even as their working conditions were getting improved to insulate them from the harsh economic conditions in the country.
