Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State has approved the sacking of 4042 workers of local governments in the North-West state.
The governor explained that the process was simply a “right sizing” exercise and corrective measure aimed at repositioning local governments.
He said that the sacked workers were redundant staff. They comprised 3,159 staff who have been retired and 883 staff whose appointments have been terminated.
Explaining on Twitter, the governor admitted that it was a tough decision to lay off the workers.
He said that the recent move, as well as his plan to sack about 22,000 incompetent teachers, was to create a better future for Kaduna.
His words: “The priority of our government today is the future of Kaduna State and her residents, not our political ambitions. In the words of Charles Orlando, “there is never a good time to make a hard decision”. If we want the Kaduna that we dream of, these tough decisions must be made.
“The decisions I make today are not in my political interest. A lot of people are fighting me but I want to be remembered as the one who revamped public education in Kaduna State”.
As for the teachers he was sacking, el-Rufai explained that the unqualified teachers had enough time to upgrade their skills before he administered the competency test.
He said: “Previous Administration under the late Patrick Yakowa gave unqualified teachers a 5-year window of opportunity to upgrade their skills. This window closed on the 8th of August, 2017”.
