Ebun Francis ||The government of Kaduna State on Tuesday announced that it has disengaged over 4,000 workers.
The commissioner for local government and chieftaincy affairs, Jafaru Sani said the measure is part of efforts of the state government to renew public service in the state and also cut down overhead cost.
Sani said the affected workers were from the state’s local service commission.
According to the commissioner, 3,159 of the affected workers were retired while the others were laid off.
The commissioner assured the affected workers that the state government will pay all the affected workers their retirement benefits and other entitlements.
He said, “It is a known fact that the LGAs were overburdened by redundant and unproductive staff who are contributing nothing to the development of the councils.”
“Because of the over-bloated staff, the LGAs are doing nothing other than paying salaries and end up becoming more or less a poverty alleviation centres, where people just go to collect money and go home.
“To ensure development at the local levels, therefore, we have to do what is right by downsizing the redundant staff to free some funds that would be injected in developmental projects.
“With the disengagement, the supporting members of staff at the 23 LGAs are now 6,732, excluding primary school teachers and primary health care workers.”
Kaduna State has been in the news recently over labour related issues following the decision of the state government to sack 21,780 teachers for failing a competency test organised for them.