Governor Charles Soludo has declared a crackdown on lateness and absenteeism among workers in Anambra State.
In a video that surfaced online, Soludo was seen speaking strongly against workers who fail to report to duty regularly or arrive late to work.
He said many workers had been receiving full salaries despite not giving full service to the government.
According to the governor, for about four to five years, workers were paid their complete salaries. This is even though many of them only worked around 80 percent of the required time.
He explained that the missing 20 percent over the years was like giving workers an extra year’s salary. This is without proper work being done.
Soludo said the state government can no longer continue with such a system. He warned that stricter monitoring would now be put in place across ministries and government offices.
“For four-five years, each person was paid 100% of their salary even though they worked only 80% of the time. That 20% difference effectively meant each worker received an extra year’s salary as a ‘bonus’”, the governor said.
This development comes barely a few weeks after Soludo made a surprise visit to the Anambra State Secretariat in Awka. There, he reportedly locked out late workers and checked attendance in different offices.
Soludo’s approach was made popular by the former Governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi, during his tenure. He also attempted the same thing as the Minister of Works and faced a serious rebuttal from the workers.
Soludo, a professor of economics, has some experience managing students and workers. The product of UNN rose to the ranks, becoming Nigeria’s central bank Governor under President Olusegun Obasanjo.
His tenure was marked by the introduction of bank recapitalisation and other stringent measures, which marked the Obasanjo era. Soludo won his reelection in a landslide victory, winning the 21 local governments in Anambra State.
