The
Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Folashade Yemi-Esan, has decried
the rampant cases of sudden deaths among civil servants in the country.
Yemi-Esan, who stated this on Tuesday in Abuja
at the inauguration of the newly established Employee Wellness Centre for civil
servants, said many civil servants suddenly die as a result of work-related
diseases that are even preventable.
She said, “We are witnessing a lot of
work-related diseases, a lot of sudden deaths.
“You
are sitting down in the office and then, the Director of Human Resources comes
and says, mama, somebody has just collapsed in the office.
“It
is not only restricted here in our country. The International Labor
Organisation estimates that about 2.3 million women and men around the world
succumb to work-related accidents or diseases every year.
“According
to the Organisation, this corresponds to 6,000 deaths every single day. The
available data also reveals that around 160 million victims of work-related
illnesses are recorded annually.
It
is instructive to know that in the last six months, I have received messages
from civil servants and Permanent Secretaries, not less than 10 Permanent
Secretaries, who complained to me about one preventable disease or the other.
“They would say they are having excruciating pain in their
neck, which they cannot sit down or stand up.
“This
is one of the commonest illnesses that Permanent Secretaries have, after
sitting down for so many years working in the office.
“This
disease is preventable. I have also seen cases where civil servants do not know
if their blood sugar is high or low.
“Most
of us do not live long after retirement. This is a very sad phenomenon.”
Yemi-Esan disclosed that this pathetic
situation of workers necessitated the building and commissioning of the
Wellness Centre for them.
According
to her, “This trend, necessitates greater attention to be paid to the health
and safety of workers, especially civil servants in the country who are the
empirical engine of development and most critical resource of the nation.
“The
establishment of the Employee Wellness Centre within the Federal Secretariat
Complex is one of the proactive responses by the government to the critical
need of mitigating many preventable medical conditions which have become
prevalent in our society in general, and among civil servants in particular.
“For
this reason, it is important to emphasize the need for every one of us to seek
useful, adequate and accurate information on common health conditions and how
to prevent or successfully manage them.
“The
need to comprehensively pay attention to our health status is more crucial,
especially due to the sedentary nature of our jobs as civil servants coupled
with the tendency to be solely committed to the demands of office and
neglecting one’s physical well-being,” she explained.
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