The Rivers State Local Government Service Commission has been commended for living up to its statutory responsibility of training staff of the Unified Local Government Service of the third tier government.
The State Commissioner for Local Government Affairs, Mr. Samuel Eyiba made the commendation in Port Harcourt while declaring open a three-day Training Workshop for Local Government Staff on grade level 04 to 07 of Local Government Areas in Rivers East Senatorial District sponsored by the Commission.
Mr. Eyiba further lauded the Commission for giving due consideration to the training of junior and middle level staff of the affected local councils and said “the junior staff of today are the senior staff of tomorrow and that any investment on them would be for the over all benefit of the service.”
He expressed confidence that the workshop would enable participants to be well informed and contribute their quota to enhance productivity in the system.
The commissioner whose address was read by the Permanent Secretary, Mr. Nuka Nwikpasi charged the participants to always promote the culture, ethics and rules of the civil service in the discharge of their duties.
Also speaking the chairman of the commission, Chief Azubuike Nmerukini explained that at the inception of the present commission, it was discovered that junior and middle level staff had not been considered for training in the past.
Chief Nmerukini stated that the workshop was a deliberate attempt by the commission to reverse this ugly trend and give these levels of officers a sense of belonging in the scheme of things.
He said the theme of the workshop, “Workshop Ethics and Organizational Productivity” was carefully chosen to promote efficiency and productivity in the third tier service.
The chairman disclosed that the workshop was the first of the series of training programmes mapped out by the commission in capacity building for local government staff.
In his goodwill message, the State President of Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Sir. Franklin Ajunwa stated that the workshop was the first of its kind in recent times to gather a large number of junior staff for training.
Sir. Ajunwa who said that the Commission’s present stand on training would in the short time give opportunity to all cadre of the service to be trained and re-trained for better service delivery, enjoined participants to take advantage of the training and improve themselves on the job.
Earlier in his welcome address a commissioner in the Commission and chairman sub-committee on Training in the commission, Chief Jonah Tamuno congratulated staff who attended the workshop, adding that they should consider themselves lucky to have been chosen in the midst of others.
Chief Tamuno thanked the Commission chairman for approving the workshop which he said is an indication for more training programmes. A total of 400 participants attended the workshop from Okrika, Ogu/Bolo, Etche, Omuma, Obio/Akpor, Emohua, Ikwerre and Port Harcourt Local Government Areas. ###
Barth Ndu
