By Sylvia Akpan, Government House Correspondent And Mary Bassey, House Of Assembly Correspondent
The Executive Governor of Cross River State, Sen. Bassey Edet Otu has assured civil servants of his administration’s commitment to improving their welfare and the working conditions in the workforce, and said he wants civil servants to focus on their place of assignments.
He gave the assurance during the swearing-in ceremony of Dr. Innocent Eteng as the new Head of Service (HoS) of Cross River State.
“We want the civil servants to be focused in their places of assignment, knowing that their contributory pension is due them at the end of the day. Because without these people, continuity in governance would not be possible.”
Governor Otu said it is saddening that civil servants would serve for 35 years, save for rainy days but die for lack of cash to attend to their health needs, insisting that “such ugly trend must stop.”
Furthermore, Otu noted that his administration was looking for a way to retain some of those retirees in order to mentor and transfer knowledge to the younger generation of civil servants and congratulated the Head of Service saying: “To whom much is given, much is expected. You are coming at a very precarious time when the state civil service is on the brink. We want you to rejig and put things in proper perspectives.”
Also speaking, the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Anthony Owan Enoh, congratulated Dr. Eteng and said he is someone who has risen to the echelon of the civil service not by sponsorship, but by achievement and dint of hard work describing him as a man of intellect, robust, energetic, charismatic, fearless, hardworking and sound, whose appointment is so well-deserved, expressing confidence in his ability to improve the civil service and bureaucracy of the state.
In appreciation, the new HoS – Dr. Innocent Eteng, thanked the governor for finding him worthy of the onerous assignment of recalibrating and reforming the state civil service and assured him of giving him his absolute best.
Dr. Innocent Eteng until his appointment served as the Secretary to State Government’s office, as Permanent Secretary.
Dr. Eteng was seen to have gained the apex heights of the civil service through hard work and dedication to service and has long acquired the needed intellectual resources to further drive the people’s first agenda of His Excellency, Sen. Prince Bassey Edet Otu to fruition.
The swearing-in had the Deputy Honorable Peter Odey, the Speaker of the State House of Assembly Honorable Elvert Ayambem, Chief of Staff to the Governor Emmanuel Ironbar; Secretary to the State Government Professor Anthony Owan Enoh, among others.
