We did not sack 9,000 workers —Kaduna govt

Kaduna State government has dispelled the insinuation made by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC)  that it  dismissed 9,000 workers after the verification exercise carried out by the government.

The  Director- General of the State Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Alhaji Bashir Muhammad,  said this while speaking with newsmen  in Kaduna, at the weekend.

‘When we came on board, we were faced with dwindling revenue as well as short fall in our statutory allocations. The first step we took was staff verification.

According to him, the verification was not smooth, as there were challenges, nonetheless,  we devised other means to ensure that it was successful.

At the end of the exercise, he said 9,000 workers still need to be scrutinised,  adding that, the governor then, directed the Head of Service (HoS), to write to the affected civil servants and advised them to write directly to the state governor.

‘The governor’s magnamity was  due to the desire to ensure that  non of the affected staff were cheated. He even said he will be involved in the screening exercise.

According to the  director- general,  21 out of the 9,000 affected workers  complied and they were invited for the screening by the governor.

‘All  the 21 affected civil servants, were cleared by the governor  and he directed that all their outstanding entitlements  be paid to them.

‘So, it is not true the insinuation made by the labour union that we have sacked 9,000 workers.  We have not sacked anybody, he said

It will  be recalled that the NLC, Kaduna State, had alleged, during the independence anniversary, that the state government had removed the name of 9,000 workers in it’s payroll.