CR Head of Service Labours To Explain Computer Policy, But…

In what can be referred to as an attempt to justify the Cross River State Government’s commitment to forcefully giving civil servants in the state laptops, Head of Service, Mary Theresa Ikwen has this morning on state owned CRBC-TV breakfast show, “Good Morning Cross River”, anchored by Erim Egar, insisted that in pegging the price of the HP 255 laptop to be supplied by Asaba based First Brightway Vision Limited,at N125, 000, considerations that hover around the interest rate to be paid to the bank, unit cost of the laptop as well as “software cost”, were critical in the decision made. While she may have demonstrated her lack of technical details in, “if you consider the unit cost, interest and software cost… I leave that to the experts”, IT experts have informed www.calitown.com that no software was developed or is to be developed for the laptops. “Apart from the O.S (Operating System) which comes with all computers, no software was developed for this laptops and let me not say the Head of Service is lying, let me just say that those who gave her that information just undermined her intelligence”, as one IT source put it.

Again, a video recording of the July 22, 2013 workshop tagged, “Sensitization Workshop on Computer Skills Acquisition for Cross River State Civil/Public Servants”, organized by the Office of the Head of Service, CRS, obtained by www.calitown.com, may further reveal the pedigree of the company picked to do the job. Excerpts from the address presented by one Isiekwe Olisaemeka, Chairman of First Brightway Vision Limited, shows the company is clearly ill-equipped to handle the details of this ‘juicy’ contract.

In the recording, Olisaemeka opens his address thus: “Cross River State, I bring you good tidings from First Brightway Vision Limited…I greet you all with sense of humility and purpose…”(sic). He goes on to say that, “…we affirm our concern and seriousness to this workshop after thoroughly assessing the importance of His Excellency, Senator Liyel Imoke, CON, to the speech he made at the last Civil Service Day, telling you that this is in tandem with the vision of the state public service workforce which is to be the leading public service of world standard with necessary attributes for optimal delivery”(sic). Unbelievable as this may seem, he continues, “…on your part, we will like you to be confident by improving on your self confidence”(sic).

“If the man is as inarticulate as his speech shows, then it goes to show how a few opportuned persons are playing over our collective intelligence and inflicting more pain on long suffering civil servants in this state. I just hope that Gov. Imoke will throw out this policy as it will only attract curses to him and his family in the twilight of his administration”, one source maintains. Pockets of resistance are beginning to build in the state and government may do well to respond to the yearnings and aspirations of her civil servants.