- The 1,400 graduates employed by the Zamfara state government have demanded for payment of their salaries and other entitlements, 60 months after their recruitment
- The workers said after being issued notification letters and posted to various MDAs in April 2014, not a single Kobo had been given to them as salaries
- They lamented that many of them who were trained as nurses, lawyers accountants, educationists and so on were left with no option than to take up menial jobs
- The state’s head of service, Alhaji Muhammad Mujtaba Isah, however, stated that the 1,400 recruited workers were not put on the payroll because of a dispute
Following their May 2014 recruitment, the 1,400 graduates employed by the Zamfara state government have demanded for their salaries and other entitlements, 60 months afterwards.
The workers who were led by their chairman, Lukman B. Majidadi, under the aegis of May 2014 Civil Servants Forum, made the demand at a press conference on Thursday, May 16, Daily Trust reports.
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Legit.ng gathers that the civil servants said due to the total neglect they suffered in the hands of Zamfara state government for the past five years, most of them have had to live a life of uncertainty
Majidadi said: “After series of processes which included written and oral interviews and verifications, a total of 1,351 young persons were cleared out of 8,000 applicants and were issued notification letters and posted to various MDAs, in April 2014. But since then, not a single Kobo was given to us as salaries.
“Since we were not given any letter of termination of appointment, we still feel we are bonafide workers and as such, all our entitlements must be paid.
“We also feel that the recruitment was frustrated by the ‘powers that be’ because they felt sidelined in the recruitment process because their favourites were not included as demanded by them.”
The chairman lamented that in a bid to earn their livelihoods, most of their members who were trained as nurses, lawyers accountants, educationists and so on were left with no option than to take up menial jobs such as shop attendants and commercial motorcycle riders, as they come from “less privileged families”.
He urged Zamfara indigenes and other Nigerians to ensure that justice is done on the matter, as he called on the state government to immediately pay all outstanding liabilities to the workers.
The state’s head of service, Alhaji Muhammad Mujtaba Isah, when contacted, stated that the 1,400 recruited workers were not put on the payroll because of a dispute.
Isah said the dispute was between the ministry of finance and the committee that carried out the recruitment process, which was headed by the then chairman of the state’s Civil Service Commission, Alhaji Ahmad Zabarma.
He said: “Even though I was not the head of service when the recruitment took place at that time, we had another recruitment in 2018 and told them that any of their members should come for automatic employment and they did come.
“So as far as we are concerned, the matter pertaining to the 1,400 is dead. It is closed.”
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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the Zamfara state governor, Abdulaziz Yari Abubakar, approved the minimum wage of N30,000 to the state civil servants as signed into law by the federal government.
The governor made this known on Thursday, April 25, at the 6th quadrennial state delegates’ conference of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
He assured the workers that his successor would take care of the implementation of the new salary scale, even if it does not happen before his handing over.
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Source: Legit.ng News
