Workers prostrate, kneel down to appease Fayose over lateness, + photo

No fewer than 31 civil servants, who cut across various ministries and departments in Ekiti State, were on Monday apprehended by the state Governor, Ayo Fayose, for coming late to work.
Fayose’s Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, in a statement in Ado-Ekiti, said the visit to the state Secretariat was part of the unscheduled visits the governor would be paying to government offices.
The governor, who arrived the State Secretariat along New Iyin Road, Ado-Ekiti by 7.55am and at 8am ordered that the main gate be locked.
He expressed displeasure at the attitude of some workers in the state and said such acts of indiscipline must be stopped.
He ordered his aides and the Head of Service to take down the names of the affected workers and that stern disciplinary action must be taken against them.
Fayose said: “If a labourer is worth his wages, the employer also is worth his services.
“I have warned workers in the state repeatedly about coming late to work or taking their jobs with laxity.
“Despite the paucity of funds, we have been regularly paying workers’ salaries.
“If workers are paid regularly, the workers too must justify our efforts and work for the money they earn.
“There are many people out there searching for jobs.
“I want to take the workers by surprise and I will visit a lot of places.
“This will be a continuous exercise.
“Those that are not disciplined and not ready to key in to our policy of taking the state to greater height will be shown the way out.”
In a photograph made available to newsmen, some of the workers were seen prostrating and kneeling down to beg the governor.
The Head of Service, Dr. Gbenga Faseluka, said since punctuality is the soul of business, workers must take discharging their duties and coming to work on time with seriousness.
Faseluka said: “It is a consummation of what we have been doing concerning punctuality on the part of workers.
“For the past few weeks, we have been emphasising this.
“It is time to enforce discipline and we have to mete out sanctions to erring workers.
“When you issue circular and some people are recalcitrant, you have to sanction them.”