Union Refutes HOS Retirement Report

The Rivers State chapter of the Nigeria Civil Service Union (NCSU), has faulted a newspaper publication  (not The Tide), which insinuated that the state Head of Service (HOS), Mrs Esther Anucha was due for retirement.

The union said there was no iota of truth in the report which it said was intended to cause chaos and overheat the civil service system.

Speaking to The Tide in an exclusive interview in his office yesterday, the union’s Chairman, Comrade Opu-Oyibo T. Lilly-West noted that it was unethical and frivolous for anyone to use  newspapers to malign some personalities who have served and contributed to the growth of the civil service, such as Mrs Anucha.

According to Lilly-West, it is wrong  for anybody to spread obvious falsehood against personalities on the pages of newspapers, adding , such is capable of causing and overheating the system. He pointed out that such reports were libelous and unacceptable in the civil service.

“If you have a genuine fact, you should come up and not to use the pages of newspapers to malign individuals, especially the person of the Head of Service. If she is due for retirement, the Civil Service Commission will notify her in writing and she will go,”

Lilly-West said.

The NCSU boss explained that the process of entry and exit from the civil service did not lie with individuals but with the Civil Service Commission, that had the power to hire and fire.

He advised the public, particularly civil servants to disregard the publication as it lacked any iota of truth.

“She is not yet due for retirement, when she is, the Civil Service Commission would act and she would leave just like any other civil servant”, he said.