Posted by By Onyedi Ojiabor and Ihuoma Chiedozie, Abuja on
After waiting for over two hours for a scheduled meeting with the Minister of Education, Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, union leaders....
After waiting for over two hours for a scheduled meeting with the Minister of Education, Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, union leaders and representatives of some workers' associations on Wednesday walked out on the minister.
The meeting, called at the instance of the minister, was scheduled to begin by 2pm but by 4.15pm, Ezekwesili was nowhere near the Federal Ministry of Education, the venue of the meeting.
At exactly 4.15pm, the over 50 union leaders from 16 unions and associations trooped out of the minister‘s conference room where the meeting was billed to hold.
Though the Minister of State for Education, Dr. Sayyadi Ruma, came by 4 pm to apologise on behalf of Ezekwesili, the apology did not go down well with the union leaders.
Ruma said the Federal Executive Council meeting was responsible for their inability to start the meeting on schedule.
But immediately Ruma concluded his apology and left the conference room, the union leaders burst into their rally song, "Solidarity forever, for the union makes us strong."
The union leaders, who accused the minister of insensitivity, wondered why they should be kept for over two hours as if they were idle hands.
The Secretary, Association of Senior Civil Servants, Mr. Ayo Olorunfemi, who spoke to journalists, said they were disappointed by the attitude of the minister.
He said, 'It is unfair for the minister to keep us waiting for more than two hours.
"We support due process. We support Servicom and the reform agenda, but those who are supposed to drive the process are not serious.
'When they need us, we will come back. For now, we decided to leave after waiting for over two hours. For us, time management should be taken seriously."
Meanwhile, the SERVICOM Office is developing a pilot scheme with the Nigerian Police Force to improve the level of service delivery by the force.
Already, a team of consultants from the technical team set up by the Department for International Development is working on the design of the scheme.
The Public Awareness Manager of the SERVICOM Office, Miss Maureen Ideozu, told our correspondent in Abuja on Wednesday that the design of the scheme would be based on identified areas for improvement from the report of the service delivery evaluation survey on the police.
Service delivery by the police was rated "shameful", the poorest category, in the report of the first service delivery evaluation survey of federal agencies, which was released by SERVICOM on July 7.