Wike: I have cleared Amaechi’s debt to workers

Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers state, says he has settled the outstanding salary arrears left by the administration of Rotimi Amaechi.

Speaking at the government house in Port Harcourt during the swearing in of Rufus Godwin as the new head of service on Thursday, Wike said it was “time to inject fresh blood” into the state’s civil service.

Wike, who said a lot of things were not right in the service, advised the workers to key into the vision of his administration.

“So many things have gone wrong in the state civil service which needs to be corrected,” he said.

“The new head of service now has the job of ensuring that the civil servants key into the mission and vision of the administration.”

Wike said many permanent secretaries were not committed to their duties, saying most of them are due for retirement.

He said his administration would take the welfare of workers as a priority, promising that from July, payment of monthly overheads to ministries, which was stopped by the last administration, will continue.

“Many of the permanent secretaries are supposed to have retired based on their records of service,” he said.

“These are some of the issues that needs to be addressed.  The new head of service has the mandate to inject fresh blood in the system.”

Responding, Godwin promised to refocus the civil service to key into the programmes of the new administration.

He said that though the challenges were enormous, he has the capacity to drive the process.