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News: Kwara State Governor’s Office locks out workers for lateness
No fewer than 85 workers and visitors were locked out at the Governor’s Office in Ilorin, Kwara State, on Tuesday.
The governor’s office complex is made up
of offices of workers under the office of the Secretary to the State
Government, the Head of Service, the Ministry of Justice and some other
agencies of the state government.
Our correspondent gathered that the Head
of Service, Hajia Zahra Omar, had secretly given a directive on Monday
that the gate of the complex should be locked on Tuesday by 8am, when
civil servants in the state were expected to have resumed.
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Many of the senior and juniors workers were caught unawares as they came to office to see that the gate had been locked.
Our correspondent, who was at the scene
about 8.30am, observed that the workers were stranded while some of them
openly expressed concern because they were not sure of the security of
their jobs.
It was gathered that no fewer than 50 workers were affected by the exercise.
Some of the punctual workers told our
correspondent that the HOS had appealed to the workers many time to
always be punctual to work.
One of them, who pleaded not to be
named, said, “It is surprising that the workers did not heed the advice.
The directive was carried out on Monday in some other ministries whose
offices were not in the complex. Although the civil servants in the
Governor’s Office complex were not notified that such measure would be
executed on Tuesday, they should have taken precautionary measures.”
Some of the workers, who came late and
spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said they had some
challenges on their ways.
They said they had received several
warnings from the HOS, adding that they should be forgiven. Many of them
promised that they would not come late to the office again.
A corps member, who declined to mention
his name, said he was surprised to be locked out as he came to make some
documentations, adding that visitors to the complex should have been
spared.
Efforts by our correspondent to get
Omar’s response was unsuccessful as a worker in her office told our
correspondent that the HOS had decided not to comment on the issue.
But a source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the HOS used the measure to compel the workers to be punctual to work.
She, however, said she was not sure whether there would be punitive measures against the late-coming workers.
