Governor Alex Otti says his administration is not considering employing more people in Abia’s civil service.

Mr Otti disclosed this during the monthly interactive session with the media on Thursday in Umuahia.

He said employment would arise when the government finished dealing with what it met in the civil service.

“There is an embargo that I made and that embargo is still in place,” said the Abia governor.

He complained about the high number of persons in the civil service.

Mr Otti decried the huge wage bill of about four billion naira for both local government and state every month. The governor, however, assured that the government was working assiduously on improving and enhancing the pay for the civil servants.

He said the government was aware that many people in the service might not be contributing at optimal levels and would need to take action.

Mr Otti said, “So, it may not be a priority at this time to open up the doors to bring in new people, except if we have a way of exiting a few people. But you know with the civil service rules, it is not going to be very easy to exit people.

“What we are trying to do with the establishment of the Civil Service Commission and resumption of the new head of service and new permanent secretaries is to ensure that our people are adequately trained. This is to enable them to operate their skills and perform better.”