Enugu team visits LG HQ, queries regarding absentee workers

When the Enugu State Monitoring Team on Work Attendance and Productivity paid an impromptu visit to the Ezeagu Local Government offices in Aguobu-Owa on Friday, they questioned absentee council personnel.

The group under the direction of Mr. Kenneth Ugwu, Head of Service, also read the state’s government servants—who frequently skip work for a variety of reasons—the riot act.

The Chief Executive Officer, Administration, at the Council, Mrs. Lorita Akwuchie, received the team.

The unplanned visit followed a viral video on social media that showed the local government headquarters being abandoned on Friday, April 5, in defiance of a recent order requiring state civil servants to work five days a week, according to a statement released by the governor of the state, Peter Mbah, through his media office on Friday.

According to the release, a staff audit of the state’s local government councils is presently being conducted by Governor Mbah’s administration in response to allegations that the majority of those employed by the state fail to routinely report for work.

Only 36 out of the more than 200 council employees were met by the team during their Friday visit to the Ezeagu council headquarters. The team’s members included the Head of Service, Mr. Kenneth Ugwu; Principal Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Ken Chukwuegbo; Chairman, Enugu State Chapter of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Comrade Ben Asogwa; and Chairman, Joint Public Service Negotiating Council, Comrade Ezekiel Omeh.

Speaking during the visit, the team’s leader and Head of Service, Mr. Ugwu, promised that the state governor’s top priority, productivity, would not be tolerated, even if the council personnel neglected their duties and took time off without authorization.