Kogi state Government under Alhaji Yahaya Bello has been enmeshed in myriads of problems; weak governance structure, red-tapism, weak accountability, low professional standards, waste and corruption, poor productivity, lack of control, redundancy and over-bloated personal Aides, treating Career Civil Servants with disrespect.
The civil service appointment is a permanent appointment and not a temporary one. Irrespective of the change that occurs in the government, a civil servant once appointed remains in his job until retirement age or natural occurrences , therefore you must treat workers with kindness and they will be more responsive.
Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State has privatized the affairs of Kogi State. Under the disguise of screening workers of Kogi State, Governor Bello is now opening salary account for the said workers with Zenith Bank without their consent. Governor Bello had earlier in the year planned mass retrenchment of workers which has been condemned and revolted against by NLC, Kogi State chapter.
Under the new arrangement by Governor Yahaya Bello, if as a worker you don’t have salary account with Zenith Bank, you are automatically dismissed from the state workforce. Most dishearteningly, aside the huge return Governor Bello is promised to get from Zenith Bank for bringing such a lucrative business, Governor Bello is also fixing thousand of names mostly from among his kinsmen into the state workforce at the expense of the original civil servants.
Furthermore, despite the fact that Governor Bello has collected bailout funds meant to pay workers’ salaries since April, 2016, Governor Bello has kept the said money in a fixed deposit account principally to yield interest for him. Governor Bello who had also collected four months allocation since his inauguration plus 4.7billion Naira, the former Governor, Captain Idris Wada left behind for him, he has not been able to pay workers salaries as expected.
It is on record that Governor Yahaya Bello is now owing six months salaries surpassing his predecessor who was owing 3months then. In line with the above issues raised, we the concerned kogites call on the civil society, Nigerian Legal Aids Council, Labour Union, NBA, NLC, PMB, and other relevant bodies to bring Bello to order and restore sanity in in the whole affairs as this unbearable situation has led to the death of many civil servants in the state workforce and that of Local Government Area.
– Usman Okai Austin
