Anambra State Governor Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, during his surprise visit to the state secretariat in Awka on Thursday, ordered the suspension of civil servants who were not on duty by 10 a.m.
Soludo issued the order following an on-the-spot review of workers’ punctuality across all state ministries and divisions.
Addressing journalists after the visit, the governor stated that any employee who is not present at their duty post by 10 a.m. should be suspended without pay.
He said, “I walked in, office by office, and there are quite a significant number of workers who are not yet at work as of 10 am. This is unacceptable.
“The ‘bad eggs’ will be shipped out because Anambra is an A-state and cannot afford an inefficient civil service.
Firm steps will be made to combat these attitudes within the civil service.”
The governor described his overall findings as a combination of “the good, the bad, and the ugly,” praising hard workers but criticizing absenteeism and poor work ethic among some employees.
He warned that the state administration would no longer tolerate indiscipline and indifference in the civil service.
Soludo reiterated his administration’s commitment to developing a disciplined, agile, efficient, and results-oriented staff, emphasizing that reforms would be firmly enforced.
“The government had invested significantly in improving infrastructure and working conditions at the secretariat. Workers should reciprocate with dedication and productivity,” he added.
During his inspections of various ministries and agencies, the governor spoke directly with employees to assess the current work culture.
In a candid situational report, Soludo paid high tribute to the “good people” within the system—disciplined civil servants who have consistently maintained professional integrity and strict adherence to official work hours, emphasizing that their dedication remains the foundation of his administration’s developmental goals.
Speaking on the issue of chronic “absenteeism and late coming,” Soludo said, “Those who fail to meet time-keeping standards will be pinned off.
“The era of lacklustre performance and entitlement in the civil service has come to an end.
“We are committed to evolving a civil service that is agile, effective, and efficient.
“To achieve this, the administration is prioritizing three key pillars of reform: deployment of technology—transitioning towards digital workflows to enhance speed and transparency.
“Effective supervision and evaluation—implementing rigorous performance tracking to ensure accountability at all levels and physical infrastructure improvements—sustaining the modernization of the secretariat to provide a conducive work environment.”
He stated that the visit served as a definitive directive for the total transformation of the state’s bureaucracy.
Furthermore, he noted that by integrating technological innovation with strict disciplinary oversight, the administration aimed to ensure that the civil service remained a high-performance vehicle for the delivery of dividends of democracy to Ndi Anambra.
