Why Kaduna Is Sacking Civil Servants En Mass – El-Rufai

The Kaduna State Government on Monday defended its decision to lay off some of the state’s workers, giving high wage bills and dwindling revenues as the cause.

The state under the governorship of Nasir El-Rufai justified the decision in a statement titled, ‘Why Kaduna is right-sizing its public service,’ and was issued by El-Rufai’s Special Adviser on Media and Communication, Mr. Muyiwa Adeleke.

The Punch reported that some local government workers in the state had received their disengagement letters.

The sacking of the Kaduna State’s workers is coming four days after Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, said Nigeria was in huge financial trouble.

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The Kaduna state government in its defense said what it has been receiving “from FAAC (the Federation Account Allocations Committee) since the middle of 2020, like most other sub-nationals, can barely pay salaries and overheads.’’

“In November 2020, the KDSG had only N162.9m left after paying salaries. That month, Kaduna State got N4.83bn from FAAC and paid N4.66bn as wages,

“In the last six months, personnel costs have accounted for between 84.97% and 96.63% of FAAC transfers received by the Kaduna State Government. In March 2021, Kaduna State had only N321m left after settling personnel costs,” the statement disclosed.

The statement added that “that month, the state got N4.819bn from FAAC and paid out N4.498bn, representing 93% of the money received.

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“This does not include standing orders for overheads, funding security operations, running costs of schools and hospitals, and other overhead costs that the state has to bear for the machinery of government to run, for which the state government taps into the internally generated revenue earnings,’’  it stated.

However, the statement argued that “desire to pay more is a sentiment that must bow to the limits prescribed by the ability to pay.

“Therefore, the state government has no choice but to shed some weight and reduce the size of the public service. It is a painful but necessary step to take, for the sake of the majority of the people of this state.”