In cost-cutting measure, El-Rufai sacks 19 political aides

The Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai on Wednesday announced the termination of the appointment of 19 political aides in a move aimed at reducing the cost of governance in the state.

This was made known via a tweet by the Kaduna State Government which stated, that “Nasir El-Rufai has approved the disengagement of the first set of political appointees to depart in the ongoing right-sizing of the public service. He has thanked the exiting officials for their services to the state.”

Ripples Nigeria had reported that El-Rufai reiterated his pledge towards ensuring a revamp of the state’s civil service by sacking unqualified workers for the development of the state.

This was in the aftermath of the recently-suspended strike by the Nigeria Labour Congress in the state.

According to El-Rufai, his administration is “verifying personnel records to remove staff without the required qualifications or with fake qualifications. While we exit unqualified and poorly skilled people, we continue to recruit more teachers, health workers and other professionals for our agencies.

“Therefore, we will rightsize the public service in the interest of the state. In shrinking the public service, we will reduce the number of political appointees and civil servants.”

The Governor also lauded the resilience of Kaduna residents “in the face of the sustained assault on your rights, freedoms, and livelihoods by the NLC over the previous four days.

“We appreciate the calm response by our citizens to the NLC’s unwarranted provocation, lawlessness, and denial of essential services.

“As your government, we will pursue accountability for the crimes that have been committed and seek remedies for our people.”