The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has paid a surprise visit to various offices to ascertain the level of commitment by members of staff in the ministry.
Gift Okpara, the Media Aide to the minister, in a statement on Thursday, said Amaechi embarked on the unscheduled visits round the nine story building of the ministry interacting with the workers at about 3pm.
Okpara said while visiting the 9th floor, the minister observed a dilapidated area of the building which posed threat to the workers’ safety and directed that it be fixed without further delay.
Okpara said: “Amaechi observed at the time of his visit that most offices were already deserted by workers before the official closing time of 4pm.
“The very few who were present were either listening to music on their phones or dormant.
“He frowned at the nonchalant attitude and act of truancy displayed by some of the workers towards their jobs for which they are being paid for by the Federal Government.”
According to Okpara, the Minister frowned at the way the offices were unclean and promised to meet with the Permanent Secretary and leaders of the Civil Service Union of the ministry over it.
The statement said: “He said he would ensure that workers who do not add value to governance are redeployed immediately.”
The Chairman, Joint Union Negotiation Council of the ministry, Kolawolu Femi, who accompanied the minister on the tour, described Amaechi’s visit to the offices as timely and as a welcomed development.
Okpara quoted Femi as saying the act would no doubt encourage and boost staff morale in the discharge of their official assignments.
He said the minister’s visit to offices would avail him the opportunity of seeing things for himself and proffer solutions where necessary and to interact with the staff present.
The statement said: “On absenteeism by workers at the time of Amaechi’s visit, Femi said there was an ongoing training programme which most staff were attending and some others were observing their annual leave.
“The union leader also used the opportunity to appeal to the minister to address the issue of insufficient office spaces for staff to curb the issue of overcrowding in some of the offices.”
Some of the staff present said they were surprised to see Amaechi inspecting their offices as no past minister had done so in their time.
While expressing satisfaction with the tour, some of the staff said the minister’s visit was a thing of joy that will remain memorable for having one-on-one interaction with them in their offices.
The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that barely two days after his re-appointment as Minister of Rransportation, Amaechi had a parley with staff and management of the ministry.
At the meeting, issues of lateness, absenteeism, truancy and workers’ welfare in general were adequately addressed.
The minister had also during his first tenure embarked on numerous surprise visits to offices in the ministry.
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