By Henry Umoru
ABUJA: THE acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje said yesterday that the leadership of the party has no plans to sack any member of staff at its National Secretariat.

In his Sallah message to staff of the PDP, Baraje vowed that he will not allow any of its over-bloated staff to be laid off, just as the National Working Committee, NWC was critically studying a staff audit report currently before it.

The Acting National Chairman who noted that the decision was to reflect the mood of the nation, however urged them to continue with their support and prayer for the success of the party particularly at this period of the transformation agenda of the government of President Goodluck Jonathan.

According to him, staff of the party should re-double their efforts for more productivity as the party’s leadership under him seeks workable and creative ways and means to ensure that the ruling party runs the most dynamic and productive bureaucracy among leading political organizations in the world.

“One area in which we have a clear consensus as party administrators in the party is to create a bureaucracy that is efficient, responsive, transparent and accountable. To achieve this, we need a crop of staff that is loyal, selfless and understanding. On our part, we will offer a leadership that is firm, focused and benevolent.

‘’Part of that benevolence is the consensus that we will not throw any of our over-bloated staff into the already over-saturated job market. We will study the Tukur Mani report side by side with the report on optimization and come up with an arrangement that will make them useful to themselves and to the community in general,” he said.

The Chairman also stated that since March 2008 when he became National Secretary of the party, he got the party’s hierarchy to address certain critical working conditions in the secretariat in the belief that only a well-motivated workforce could successfully translate the party’s vision into reality.

According to him, “Irrespective of the fact that PDP is not a government parastatal, we sought funds to improve staff working conditions. As part of these palliatives, we paid allowances to cover motor vehicle, housing and monetization.

‘’It is the first in the history of the party. Also, we established and have maintained, till date, payment of salaries latest by the 21st of every month. We do not mind that we are actually over-staffed. Yet, we are doing our best to improve our staff welfare not minding that most of them were dumped on the party from states.

‘’We do not want to hurt people, just as we equally expect the staffers not to engage in unproductive ventures that will elicit the leadership of the party to implement the rightsizing approach already suggested”

Part of the key highlights of the staff audit report are recommendations that the party should urgently cut down its staff strength currently put at over 230, increase staff salaries, improve career progression and approve a yearly increment in certain allowances.

While expressing appreciation to the staff for their total support for the party’s overwhelming endorsement of his emergence on July 14 as Acting National Chairman, he reiterated his pledge to lead the party with the fear of God but solicited the cooperation of all leaders, members and staff of the PDP nationwide towards the continued growth and development of the party.

The Acting National Chairman also congratulated all Nigerian Muslims on the successful completion of this year’s Ramadan and prayed that Allah grant all Muslims the benefits of this season.