By Our Correspondent
Comrade Chika Muomaife, a member of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, has been elected the Chairman of the Anambra State Joint Public Service Negotiating Council (Trade Union Side) .
In the election supervised by the national leadership of the council, all the delegates voted for Muomaife.
In his acceptance speech, Muomaife urged civil servants to work in the spirit of unity, cooperation and mutual respect for one another, calling on them to forget their differences and focus on shared goals that would lead to excellence, innovation and creativity.
He added: “I am humbled by the trust you have placed in me. I accept this responsibility with deep sense of responsibility.
“We are not just representing those of us gathered here, but the entire civil servants who have trusted us to speak on their behalf and we are assuring them that their voices will be heard and their interest protected.
“As your chairman, I pledge to work tirelessly with the two labour unions, the Nigeria Labour Congress,NLC, and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, chairmen, to promote the well-being of civil servants to foster a culture of accountability and to be fair and just to all parties involved.
” We will work hard to tackle the challenges facing our civil service and become more resilient and effective institution that serves our great state to ensure development and growth.”
In his speech, the National Chairman, Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council, JNPSNC , Trade Union Side, Comrade Benjamin Anthony, said
the national leadership has found it very imperative to work towards streamlining the operational scope of the council in Nigeria with uniformity in Its affairs across the country.
According to him, the council has resolved to reinforce the potency of joint Public Service Negotiating Council (JNPSNC) Trade Union Side, in terms of its negotiating capacity and optimal service delivery for workers in the public service nationwide, with emphasis on the importance of collective bargaining and negotiation between labour unions and the government.
“As you know, the Trade Union Side has been a key figure in negotiating workers’ rights and welfare packages with the government. The leadership has focused on improving the welfare of Nigerian workers, particularly in the public service sector.
“We have also worked closely with government agencies, such as the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) also, replicated at the state level, with State Head(s) of Service, to address issues like consequential salary adjustments, promotion arrears, and leave allowances,” he stated.
He said the JNPSNC has been instrumental in promoting industrial harmony and negotiating better working conditions for public service workers and urged them to bear it in mind the importance of unity, collective bargaining, and collaboration between labour unions and the government.
He admonished the new state executive to see their emergence as a call to service with collective responsibilities tainted with collective bargaining tenets devoid of mistrust and suspicion in their relationship with government side.
