A former governorship candidate in Rivers State, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, has criticized the state government for promoting no single civil servant in 2021, saying no worker has been officially sponsored for any training to enhance their capacity to function.

Peterside made this known in his 2022 New Year message made available to The Star on Saturday.

The former Director General of NIMASA further alleged that teachers in the state-owned university, primary and secondary schools were owed in 2021 just like in 2016 to 2020, adding that the Rivers State Government insisted on not paying them even in the face of a valid court order that they be paid.

He said: “In the year 2021, Rivers civil servants, who constitute the engine room of government, suffered draconian policies in the hands of a regime that cared less for their welfare. In that year, close to 400 government-owned property statutorily occupied by senior civil servants and their families were forcefully taken over and the occupants ejected.

“Today those same official quarters have been gifted to politicians and those close to the government in a manner most demeaning and dehumanising of the former legitimate occupants.

“Further in their anti-labour and anti-civil servants’ policies, the Rivers State Government promoted no single civil servant in 2021, the same sad situation in the last five years and none has been officially sponsored for any training to enhance their capacity to function,” he said.

Peterside further stated that no major capital project has been undertaken in the state University of Education which is supposed to produce teachers, adding that the state government has completely neglected education to mortgage the future of the youths in Rivers State.

“In 2021, no aspect of the state’s healthcare received due attention. Primary healthcare remained only a history leading to avoidable deaths recorded daily. Our governor looked the other way while Rome burnt, and to cap his neglect and disdain of this critical sector, Mr. Governor sacked the State’s Health Commissioner on air and over a trifle,” he added.

He, however, called on the residents of the state to unite and pursue greatest good, saying the new year is an opportunity to correct mistakes of the past and chose a new path.