At least 3,234 staff, including a 13-year-old girl reportedly recruited by former Governor of Kano state, Abdullahi Ganduje, towards the end of his administration have been laid off by his successor, Abba Yusuf Kabir.
Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Abdullahi Baffa Bichi, who made this announcement on Friday, November 24, while briefing newsmen on the report of the 22-member committee set up by the Government to ascertain the processes followed in recruiting the persons, said the sacked workers were ineligible to be in the Civil Service on the ground that some of them were underaged, junior and secondary school students while others were still undergoing the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and some with forged certificates among others.
Bichi said; “Based on the observations and recommendations of the Technical Committee, the Governor, owing to his concern and humane disposition, has approved as follows: Reinstatement of a total of 9,332 staff that were found eligible by the committee. Proper placement and posting/deployment of eligible staff to relevant MDAs for optimal utilisation should be undertaken.
“The Verification Committee Report was received by the Government and its salient observations and recommendations were noted and accepted as follows:- That majority of the employments were not captured in the 2023 Approved Budget.
“That the employment did not take consideration of the actual manpower needs of the respective MDAs but was influenced by the desire to tie down the new Administration financially.
“Similarly, most of those employed did not undergo processes of screening and recruitment interviews as expected by the service regulations while a significant percentage of those employed had neither applied nor indicated interest to serve which forms a major aspect of employment requirement.
“That a number of students in their active study years were also found to be employed, including students of junior secondary schools, senior secondary schools and some in their early stages of tertiary education while a number of persons recruited were found to be undergoing their National Service Program (NYSC). Equally, a number of persons confirmed to be overaged or under-aged were found to be employed and on the State payroll.
“A number of those employed were found to have suspicious or forged certificates, while many non-indigenes were employed in spite of a large number of qualified unemployed indigenes roaming our streets. That those employed were wrongly placed through deployment to non-career posts or the calling of their respective qualifications; and that there were gross where officers with higher qualifications attracting senior cadre were employed on the junior cadre of the service contrary to the needs of the MDAs and approval granted for such employments.”
