Anger as El-Rufai sacks 4,000 LGA workers

The decision of the administration of Governor Nasir el-Rufai to disengage 4,000 workers across the 23 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Kaduna State has sparked outrage.

Daily Trust reports that on April 6, over 4,000 staff across 23 local governments received their disengagement letters.

Reacting to the development, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), described the action as “arbitrary and cruel”, and called on the Kaduna State government to reverse the mass sack.

He said the decision to give effect to compulsory retirement of officers that are 50 years old and above; and compulsory retirement of officers on Grade Level 14 and above, even when they are less than 50 years violate the fundamental human and trade union rights of Kaduna State workers.

“Others are conversion to casual workers for officers on Grade Level 01 - 06 and the directive that no local government in Kaduna State shall have more than 50 staff strength. We understand that right now redundancy letters are being issued to workers caught in the web of this very arbitrary and cruel decision,” he said.

Wabba also called the attention of the Kaduna State government to the clause in the redundancy letter issued to affected workers which says all the entitlements of the affected workers would be paid in due course.

He described it as being in conflict with the provisions of the Labour Act on redundancy.

The Kaduna State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has also condemned the mass sack/retirement of workers.

The State Publicity Secretary of the party, Abraham Alberah Catoh, said the action by the governor which is “unlawful and callous” smacks of insensitivity to the plight of the good people of the state.

He said “It is disheartening that a government which asserts itself as a believer of the rule of law, however, never hesitates to break the same law in pursuit of its unscrupulous policies, based on their whims and caprices.”

One of the affected staff, Aliyu Aminu, of the Works Department, who was retired from service on 1st April, 2021, called on the government to pay them their benefits, especially with the holy month of Ramadan starting.

Another staff, who pleaded anonymity, wondered why the state government fired and retired civil servants before the official retirement age or number of years in service.

He said he had accepted his retirement in good faith but urged the government to pay their benefits.