Civil Servants Decry Months of Power Outage in Rivers Secretariat Complex

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

Despite effort by the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara to ensure civil servants discharge their duties in comfortable atmospheres, workers in the state have decried months of power outage in parts of the State Secretariat Complex in Port-Harcourt.  

THISDAY gathered that the situation resulted from a major electrical fault in the power installation of the secretariat. 

Areas affected include Block A made of 7 floors, housing the Ministry of Health and that of Agriculture as well as Block B made of 7 floors housing the Ministries of Physical Planning and Urban Development, Budget and Economic Planning, Commerce and Industry, as well as Culture and Tourism. 

The situation, it was gathered, has rendered the elevators of the two buildings non-functional with the attendant implications on the health of the civil servants, government functionaries and visitors as they go through great difficulties daily while climbing long staircases to access offices. 

The situation has also resulted in poor sanitary conditions and its health implications in the toilets of most of the affected Ministries due to lack of water supply occasioned by the prolonged power outage. 

The affected Ministries, Departments and Agencies now engage the services of local water vendors popularly known as ‘mai-ruwa’ for daily water supply in their toilets. 

While some ministries are able to run on generator, others are unable to do so. The situation is seriously hampering the general activities of Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government at the State Secretariat. 

Service delivery and productivity of the affected ministries have been negatively impacted by the power outage.  

Some civil servants and government functionaries manage to work under unfavourable conditions, others work remotely from the comfort of their homes and elsewhere to meet up their job targets regardless of the continued power outage. 

THISDAY further gathered that the power situation in the affected areas of the Rivers State Secretariat has been allegedly reported to the office of the Head of Civil Service of the State and the Ministry of Power whose duty it is to fix the electricity problem. 

Some of the civil servants who spoke on the condition of anonymity lamented the effect of the prolonged power outage on their productivity and health. 

The civil servants, while commending the efforts of Governor Fubara in the improvement of their welfare, appealed to him to intervene in the power outage in parts of the State Secretariat by ensuring that power is restored quickly in the affected areas.

A civil servant at the secretariat who pleaded anonymity, said: “We have suffered for almost three months now for the light and when there is no light there will be no elevator. Our women and men are suffering on a daily basis to climb to the 7th floor and come down.

“I appeal to the governor to do something; he should call the Ministry of power in the state in order to visit the affected buildings and compel them also to fix back the light. It’s not good for workers to be suffering like this, in this building there is no water, people go out to access the toilet.”