By Nsan Ndoma-Neji, Calabar
A frontline female governorship Aspirants on the platform of the Propels Democratic Party, PDP, and widows’ rights advocate, Mrs Imah Nsa Adegoke, has described as heartless and unfair the non-payment of the gratuities of workers who meritoriously served the state for between 30 and 35 years before retirement, by the state governor.
Adegoke expressed her displeasure while speaking with journalists in Calabar yesterday, shortly after meeting with vice-chairpersons and secretaries of the PDP from the 18 local government areas of Cross River.
The legal practioner wondered why individuals who, after investing over 35 years in the civil service, in the service of the state would be denied thier entitlements.
Adegoke said, “We can’t be wicked to old people after taking their taxes at source, when they have used up their strength and productive years for the state, you decide to hold their pension and gratuities, it is unfair and unjust.”
The legal luminary, who also contested elections to occupy the seat of the state governor in 2011 on the platform of the Labour Party, LP, but incidentally lost the election to Senator Liyel Imoke, stressed that the state civil service can be productive, if the root cause of its problems can be tackled.
She added, “Right now, we are not addressing the root cause of low productivity in our civil service, which are nepotism, no promotion and increment in salaries and no payment of gratuities after retirement.
“It is easy to blame politicians at the federal level, but we must begin with ourselves and our state, where people get employed because they come from the same local government area with the powers that be.
“There are also too many stories of the wickedness of politicians, who have refused to pay pensions and gratuities of people who have worked for 30, 35 years for the state civil service.”
The woman-politician promised to tackle all environmental problems troubling the entire Cross River State, if she emerges as governor of the state.
The governorship aspirant averred that in one of her visits to Ikom, Etung, Boki and Obanliku local government areas, in February, she was so sad with the level of depletion and deforestation of the state-owned forest, adding that the state-owned forest had been so depleted, killing most of the terrestrial habitat, describing the act as absolute wickedness.
She averred, “The environmental situation in Cross River is really sad, because everyday, our wonderful trees along Boki that were so huge and formed canopies all over the place are felled, thus depleting the forests.
“We are not talking of just the trees, we also lose a lot of flora and fauna, including endangered species, medicinal herbs that would have been useful for the treatment of so many ailments.
“As governor, we would start by identifying the expanse of land and forest we have lost through a geographic positioning system; the good thing about satellite imagery is that it gives you the image before and the after.
“I am hoping that from the report we get, we will be able to do something about our environment and if we really need to imprison a few people, we will.”
The female politician promised to invest in the tourism sector where enough revenue would be generated to the coffers of the state, adding that immorality and bad behavior would not be part of the sector.
She enthused, “We will sit with the hoteliers, art and craft village and business people to ensure that tourism in the state is profitable without destroying the moral fabric of the state.”
