A PASSIONATE APPEAL FOR THE
INCLUSION OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH OFFICER CADRE APPLICANTS IN THE ON-GOING
RECRUITMENT EXERCISE OF THE LAGOS STATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT SERVICE COMMISSION
Greetings
to your highly esteemed office. We applaud your exemplary contributions in
paddling the affairs of the state to birthing a new social order of monumental
infrastructural development and economic growth, with resonated enhanced
standard of living of Lagosians.
Following
the job advert placement on print and electronic media by the Lagos State Local
Government Service Commission which was slated for a period five days (25th –
29th September, 2017), we, the Environmental Health graduates made our
application entries as directed by the commission.
Invitation
of applicants for screening/recruitment by the Commission commenced last week
through e-mail and SMS correspondence. While other cadres are being invited for
screening/recruitment, the environmental health cadre applicants are being
sidelined and in breach of the Local Government
Schemes of Service 2006, Non-Environmental Health graduates including those
with degrees in Anthropology, biotechnology, sociology, crop protection, etc
are being invited for interview and placement as Environmental Health Officers
while thousands of the real graduates of the profession who applied were not
invited. Moreover, it is expedient to point out here that these Non-Environmental
Health graduates lack in outright term the requisite competence and credentials
to function statutorily and desirably as Environmental Health Officers.
We
would like to reassure the state government of our willingness to gainfully
contribute our quota in the enhancement of public service delivery, to the good
people of Lagos state. It is also noteworthy that some of our members are not
only Higher National Diploma (H.N.D) holders from recognized schools/colleges
of health technology but graduates with additional qualifications such as
bachelor and master's degrees with excellent grades, and have been serving the
state government on a non-pensionable basis for almost a decade.
Additionally,
we actively participated in the successful intervention programmes being
organized by the state and federal governments in the epidemiological control
of outbreaks of Lassa fever, Ebola Virus, Cholera and some other diseases. We
are not in doubt that we would also be relevant in the arrest of this recent outbreak of monkeypox viral infection.
For
the avoidance of doubt, an Environmental Health Officer is a qualified graduate
from either the university or school/college of health technology and duly
certified by the West Africa Health Examination Board (WAHEB) and Environmental
Health Officers Registration Council of Nigeria (EHORECON). Our job
specifications are well spelt-out by the World Health Organization (WHO) which
aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations.
Finally,
in the light of the above, we humbly request for your swift intervention on the
delay in the job interview being experienced by our members, because we believe
in your leadership, spirit of equality and goodwill for a sustained serene
environmental health of the state.
Yours
Faithfully,
_________________
BASHORUN N.O
Coordinator.
Cc: The Executive Governor of Lagos State,
State House,
Alausa – Ikeja,
Lagos
State.
Honourable Segun Olulade,
Chairman,
House Committee on Health,
Alausa
– Ikeja,
Lagos
State.
Hon. Saka Fafunmi
Chairman,
House Committee on Environment.
Lagos State
House of Assembly.
Hounorable Agunbiade Sunai (SOB),
Majority
Leader,
Lagos
State House of Assembly,
Alausas
– Ikeja,
Lagos
State.
Commissioner of Police,
Lagos State.
The President,
Environmental
Health Officers Association of Nigeria (EHOAN),
Oshodi
Isolo,
Lagos
State.
The Chairman,
Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN),
Surulere,
Lagos
State.
Chairman,
Lagos State
Local Government Service Commission,
Old
Secretariat,
P.W.D;
Lagos State.
Barr. Festus Keyamo (SAN),
1, Festus
Keyamo Lane, off Gbagada Expressway,
Lagos State.
Barr. Femi Falana (SAN),
Old
Secretariat Road,
G.R.A; Ikeja,
Lagos.
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu,
(Governor Emeritus),
National
Leader,
All
Progressive Congress (APC)
Bourdilion
Road,
Osborne,
Ikoyi, Lagos.