SPECIAL Adviser to Delta State Governor on Labour and Industrial Relations, Comrade Mike Okeme, yesterday, expressed shock that casual workers in The POINTER Newspapers were yet to be absorbed into the mainstreams civil service in the state.

Comrade Okeme, who made his position known when members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), The POINTER Chapel paid him a courtesy visit in his office, assured that the casual workers would be absorbed in the next few weeks.

“When the state government said that casualization of workers in the state should be brought to an end, it meant it.  So, if up till now, there are still casual workers in The POINTER, then, something must be wrong with the process of absorbing them,” he said.

He added, “I want to herein declare that government will absorb all the casual workers in The POINTER, and as at when government made that pronouncement.”

Describing journalists in The POINTER Newspaper as hard working professionals who can compete with outstanding reporters in the world, the former labour leader promised to liaise with the Ministry of Information, and Ministry of Housing to ensure that state government speed up the processes of ensuring the relocation of The POINTER to its permanent site.

“Government is committed to infrastructural development, so, your movement to your permanent site is a task that must be done,” he said, noting that the Ministry of Information and that of Housing must create the working relationship so a structure that can stand the test of time is erected.

He emphasised, “I am saying this because, I know that The POINTER has ome of the finest reporters in the country, all you need is the enabling environment.”

One the issue of weigh-in allowance, Comrade Okeme promised to liaise with the appropriate authorities to ensure that journalists in The POINTER Newspaper are given their due entitlements.

Earlier in his address, Comrade Fidelis Egugbo, Chairman, NUJ, The POINTER Chapel who led the delegation, had appealed to the Governor’s aide to use his good offices to inform the state government of the plights of casual workers in the state –owned newspaper.

Egugbo who used the forum to appreciate the state Governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan for the provision of vehicles to The POINTER, also called for efforts to be made to relocate The POINTER from its current temporary site to its permanent site.