Re: KANO GOVT SACKS 2,000 WORKERS AND THE N180m

Re: KANO GOVT SACKS 2,000 WORKERS AND THE N180m - 

                                  THE TRUE STORY 

Kano State Government has noted with concern the erroneous allegation currently being circulated on social media platforms that it has sacked all street sweepers under the State Refuse Management and Sanitation Board, REMASAB, thereby portraying the government as callous, insensitive and unsympathetic to the tough economic situation of the affected staff.

Similarly, it is being wrongly rumoured and circulated that the state government has approved N180million for the rehabilitation of the Deputy Governor's office.

The statements which are attributed to the State Commissioner of Information, Youth, Sports and Culture, Malam Muhammad Garba, during a press briefing on the outcome of the State Executive Council Meeting held yesterday at the Government House, are indeed incorrect, inaccurate, erroneous, wrong and grossly skewed.  

To set the record straight, the appointment of the affected staff, who are all casual staff, was not terminated but suspended pending the conclusion of screening exercise of all the staff by a committee to determine genuine, ghost, fake and non-existent staff among them.

The government is worried and concerned with lack of proper documentation on each of the over 2, 000 affected casual staff who collect monthly N10, 000 allowance and, therefore, deemed it necessary to establish their true status in order to save public funds from been diverted using ghost workers or unjustifiably collected by absconded staff who only showed up at the cashier's table at the end of every month. All genuine and worthy casual staff will be cleared to resume duty at the end of the screening exercise.

The administration of Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje is committed to fighting corruption, ensuring sanity in public service, transparency, accountability and judicious utilization of public funds and will, therefore, not fold its arms to allow anybody misuse or mismanage funds no matter how highly or lowly placed he is.

As for the alleged approval of N180million for the rehabilitation of the Deputy Governor's Office, no organization or individual or group in the name of government or otherwise ever talked about that since the inception of the administration because the said office was completed and occupied just four month ago. 

The amount, as mentioned by the Commissioner during the briefing, is for the general renovation of the official residence of the Deputy Governor including construction of additional structures. The house was built since colonial era and remains so till date when the present administration recognized the need to give it a modern facelift befitting to the status of the Deputy Governor. 

The press is therefore advised to always crosscheck facts before going to the press, in hard copy or online, in line with the ethics of good and responsible journalism.

Signed:

MALAM MUHAMMAD GARBA

Commissioner of Information 

Kano State    

7th August, 2015