Opinion: Commendation to Gov Otti on his change of disposition on Abia ex- civil servants.

I have always argued that not all civil servants are evil and unreliable. This was why I openly wrote about the demerits of sacking all directors who have served eight (8) years and above. Civil service institution depends on institutional knowledge, beyond training to reinvent themselves.

I recommended a different approach to be adopted to sieve out those who were not fit for purpose in the modern civil service. I have never believed that external consultants alone have answers to our local or peculiar problems.

Even in civil service, no two states are the same, hence relying on external consultants can never provide solutions to our internal issues. There are inherent peculiarities from state to state.

On assumption of office in 2015, even with the level of rot of that era in the civil service, understanding that a good knowledge of the local operating environment would be key to our success, we asked questions.

We were able to identify a few retired civil servants, that were appointed to help review some of the major problems of the service at that time, which have continued even to date.

We identified Mr. I.O Izima, who came highly recommended. He headed the committee on the restoration of study leave among workers in Abia State. It was basically to identify those civil servants who circumvented the law by falsifying their age and date of employment because of years spent for additional degrees as civil servants.

These men did a fantastic job that helped us to identify those who should have retired but stayed back by compromising the system. There was another committee headed by Sir Ichita.

I still commend them for that job as there was no funding before and even after they churned in the report. It is indeed gratifying to note that the present administration has also identified Mr. Izima to join the team for the verification of civil servants. This is commendable, especially with a shift in the initial stand of avoiding anything or anybody that existed before 2023.

I am very convinced that Mr. Izima will do more as his integrity, and sincerity is still intact, and can vouch for that. Thanks to Mr Governor for not relying solely on external consultants to solve our local problems. Local knowledge is key in this instance.

Another engagement that is worthy of commendation is that of Dame Charity Ukonu. On this particular engagement, you have also demonstrated your sincere disposition towards identifying the problems of our pensions management and its repositioning.

Dame Charity Ukonu retired from the State audit having served in that unit all through her career in Old Imo state. She suffered greatly and was humiliated for having worked under my supervision.

I recall in 2015, I did what we call environmental scanning while in the bank and identified her as someone who would assist us in the hydra-headed problem of salary management which had become intractable even to date. She also came highly recommended.

She assembled a team that assisted us with the modest achievement of that era, as there were remarkable reductions in the falsification of figures in the payroll of the state and pension figures.

That salary management committee faced all sorts of intimidation, persecution, threats, and malicious accusations that even landed my team at EFCC Port Harcourt. That’s another story.

When I eventually left government in 2019, Dame Charity Ukonu forgot that dynamics would change as she rejected names of people who had retired from service but handed over to her to effect payment as salary.
It was an aberration in that twist of time but it was late for her to understand.
It was not long before she was unceremoniously removed as the head of the salary management team.
She was replaced with someone who was indicted by a white paper from BIR for fraud and had floated for 10 years without any defined role in the Ministry of Finance.

All the gains made in sanitizing the database of Abia’s payroll were reversed within days.
For over one year she floated without any office and any defined job.
She ran to who is who in Abia both politically and religious leaders, begging and pleading as she thought she was helping to strengthen the system.

All the people she ran to told her that her problem was because she worked with Obinna Oriaku. Then I became a leper as anybody associated with Oriaku was sent to the gallows.

She asked what Oriaku did without a response to date.
Eventually, she was forced to retire to her village in regret for standing for reform in our salary management.
She demonstrated passion for her job and was very sincere about what should constitute the real wage and Pension of Abia workers and pensioners.

Most of those she ran to for help explaining that all she did was to help stop the fraud in salary/ pension management are today now emergency advocates (activists)of good governance. This lady was banished to her village in penury a good example of disgrace for standing up against a system.

Otti has wiped away my tears as that widow was unjustly punished just because she refused to obey instructions which she felt was bad thinking she was still working under my supervision.

This buttresses my conviction that not all civil servants are evil, and not all are thieves, we have retirees who are sincere and are willing to see better service and by extension a better Abia State just like during Imo State days, before State creation.

I encourage the govt to search further as there are many of them ready to assist instead of these consultants who carry briefcases from Sokoto and Abuja without a solution to our immediate problems.

Obinna Oriaku (Ekwedike), a financial expert, writes from Isiala Ngwa South Local Government Area in Abia state, Nigeria