TheCable

Charles Usoh, commissioner of information in Akwa Ibom state, says the ongoing recruitment into the state civil service is not politically motivated.

Reacting to critics who said the administration of Udom Emmanuel, governor of the state, embarked on the exercise to brighten the chances of Emmanuel for a second term, Udoh said the recruitment was meant to fill existing vacancies in the civil service.

“Governor Emmanuel is not playing politics with development. Everything he is doing has been carefully planned and his 5-point agenda are interwoven,” he said in a statement.

“We didn’t deliberately start to create jobs in the civil service. We started by creating an alternative source of employment through industrialisation, tourism and agriculture, among others to stimulate the economy with a large value chain.

“Having done that, it is only natural to fill the gap created by civil servants, who retired. This government has carefully mapped out its plans. We are creating employment and it is only natural that we should fill those vacancies.”

Udoh added that the exercise would follow due process as the government would pick the required numbers based on the existing positions.

He maintained that the government would never toy with the welfare of its workers, adding that the pensioners, who were yet to collect their entitlements, were those who were still battling with clearance from the authorities.