Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
The Bayelsa State Government has disclosed that the ongoing reforms in the public service has continued to yield positive results as it currently saves about N684 million annually from the review of the grade levels of workers at the eight local government areas.
Commissioner for Local Government Administration in the state, Mrs. Agatha Goma, who stated this during a joint media briefing of top government functionaries in Government House, Yenagoa, explained that the review of the grade levels of workers was to ensure that Local Government staff were at their appropriate grade levels as well as check cases of arbitrary promotions.
According to her, from the exercise, which was carried out by the Local Government Service Commission, the Government made savings of about N57 million monthly, adding that, part of the efforts to clean up the problems, include physical assessment of workers to identify over aged persons, review of the certificates presented by workers to ascertain the validity of those certificates.
In a press statement by the State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, Mrs. Goma pointed out that as a result of the reforms being carried out since 2012, the wage bill of the state has been reduced from over N6 billion in 2012 to about 3.8 billion Naira in 2018, stressing that, the local government councils now have the capacity to also pay salaries of workers promptly.
In his remarks, Head of Service in the state, Reverend Thomas Zidafamor, urged Bayelsans to discountenance the rumours that, the Government has sacked 28, 000 workers, pointing out that, it was the handiwork of a misinformed opposition.
According to him, the fact that organised labour in the state is in a harmonious relationship with the state government on the reforms, shows that the information and the rumours being peddled are a not only cooked up, but also a figment of their imagination.
He challenged those peddling falsehood about the reforms to publish the names of the sacked workers, describing the statement as a figment of their imagination.
