Fear Grips Delta Civil Servants

•  As Okowa orders fresh verification of birth, employment dates

Omon-Julius Onabu in Asaba

Civil servants in Delta State are gripped by new fear for their jobs as the state governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, has approved a fresh exercise to verify the dates of birth and employment of members of the state public servants.

Chairman, Delta State Civil Service Commission, Mrs Nkem Okwuofu, disclosed that the governor had accordingly given approval to the constitution of a committee with terms of reference to conduct the verification.

Okwuofu disclosed this on Wednesday in Asaba, while inaugurating a ten-member verification committee, in which she would serve as Chairman, said that the terms of reference were to identify, investigate and authenticate the date of birth as well as the date of employment of public officers in the employ of the state.

Moreover, the committee is to identify those with question marks either with their date of birth or the date of their employment int the state civil service, she said.

Specifically, the committee is expected to isolate “public officers with discrepancies in dates of birth and employment without justification and recommend to the state government the disciplinary action to be taken against such offenders in line with extant rules” in the Delta State civil service.

Okwuofu revealed that the setting of the verification committee became necessary following “petitions and complaints” allegedly received from certain civil servants alerting the government to the existence of some officers still in service but overdue for retirement.