The Zamfara State government led by Governor Bello Mohammed Matawalle has screened and issued instruction for job approval for 1040 out of the1400 workers who were allegedly given fake employment under the past administration of Governor Abdulaziz Yari. It was gathered that the said workers were not paid any salary or any form of allowance for over a period of five years.
Governor Bello Matawalle has, however, pegged the payment of their monthly salaries with effect from August 2019 and directed them to resume work at their respective MDAs.
It could be recalled that the new governor, in the early days of his administration, had promised to reinstate them and he later directed the State Head of Service to Screen them and come up with those who were genuinely unemployed.
Out of the 1400 employees that were originally affected by non-payment of salaries and allowances, only one thousand and forty (1040) graduates however scaled through the screening exercise, while the remaining 360 are alleged to have some engagement elsewhere.
“The civil service rules do not make any provision for anybody to work in more than one place which was why the 360 people were not considered,” the governor said.
The Governor maintained his commitment to improving the welfare of the State civil servants through prompt payment of salaries and wages, saying that all other entitlements will not be compromised or neglected.
He explained that no responsible government can afford to treat the issue of civil service and civil servants with a mere wave of hand, saying that the civil servants are the backbone of any successful government. He urged the reinstated graduates to dedicate themselves to discharging their primary and legitimate role for the development of Zamfara State.
It could be recalled that in 2012, the government of former governor Abdulaziz Yari employed 1,400 graduates to reduce the high rate of unemployment among graduates but the government neither paid their salaries and allowances nor ask them to stop coming to work as ghost workers.
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