By Austin Ogwuda
Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State has directed that, henceforth, deserving workers should be promoted as at when due with payment of necessary financial obligations to avoid piling up promotion arrears.
He gave the directive when he received Judges of the State Judiciary, led by the Chief Judge, Justice Theresa Diai on courtesy visit to Government House, Asaba, today, Monday.
The governor said: “On the issue of promotion arrears, I don’t want to hear it again because if workers are promoted as and when due, the issue of promotion arrears will not arise.
“But when you delay and you take about two years and accumulate this money for us to pay, it is not easy for the Government.
“When we came in, we heard about the salary arrears which was not caused by the Government. When people are due for promotion and you don’t promote them at that time, thereby causing problem for the Government.
“When I asked for the salary arrears, I was told N5.5bn and I said I will pay it in four tranches and we have paid two tranches, we will conclude the payment in November”, he stated.
Earlier, Justice Diai said the visit was to intimate him on the commencement of the 2023/2024 Legal Year.
Diai said the State Judiciary comprised of 37 High Court judges, 15 Revenue Court judges, 103 magistrates and seven Customary Court of Appeal judges among others.
She further stated that eight judges were on assignment for election petitions and thanked the Governor for approving overseas training for 15 judges.
The Chief Judge said automation of revenue collection in all courts in the State was on and called for the establishment of two more juvenile centres in the State, adding that the only one in the State was established in Sapele in 1951.
She said to speed up trial for criminal charges, all High Courts have been directed to hear criminal cases instead of a select few and assured of the cooperation of the judiciary to make his administration a success.
