Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has promoted every government servant in Abia State to the next grade level on Wednesday.
This announcement has called for massive jubilation in some areas of the state, as the mass promotion will take effect from April 2023.
Ikpeazu gave his approval at the Ochende International Conference Center in Umuahia during an interactive meeting with National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) members in the State. During the meeting, he explained that the gesture was a part of his administration’s efforts to uphold the welfare of Abia workers.
He revealed that his government rejected some suggestions to sack civil servants in the State but rather employed more workers, even as he maintained that no government had taken care of Abia civil servants like the PDP-led government did.
Ikpeazu admitted that his departing administration was unable to address all of the State’s issues, but he insisted to Abia’s civil servants that he left the State in a better state than when he found it because, in his opinion, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that Abia was among the States with the best management practices.
Ikpeazu urged state employees to back the pro-people policies of his administration and the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) gubernatorial candidate, Sir Okey Ahaiwe, who he claimed will even surpass his current administration.
The governor warned Abia civil servants against entrusting Abia State to people who might not protect their employment and overall welfare, saying that the only perfect system in the world is in heaven.
Responding earlier, the Abia State Chairman of NULGE, Comrade Ikechi Nwogwe who spoke in appreciation on behalf of other civil servants, thanked the Governor for the gesture and promised his members’ continued support for government policies.
At the office of the Head of Service (HoS) at Library Avenue and also the State Secretariat in Umuahia, workers were seen exchanging banters of congratulations, even as some others rushed into available eateries in the capital city to entertain themselves.
One of the workers, who identified herself as Ndidi Precious, said her promotion to the next level was an encouragement.