With the killing fields of Kaduna sucking more blood of indigenes with the death of a father, son were killed, Governor Nasir el Rufai has pointedly told grumbling workers in the state he was not elected to be a salary pay officer.
Not less than 1000 lives have been lost in Kaduna in 15 months, with more than 2,000 kidnapped. In frustration weeks ago, el Rufai joined the cry for the decentralisation of the Police to allow states employ personnel to tackle the menace of criminals.
But in apparent response to a press conference and protest letter by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), and brewing tension in the state, with the sack of over four thousand workers and more to come, el Rufai through his spokesman, Mr. Muyiwa Adekeye, said he was elected to maintain and develop the state, and not to pay salaries.
Meanwhile, Samuel Aruwan, Commissioner, Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Kaduna State announced that, “Security agencies have reported that armed bandits this morning attacked Wawan Rafi II village, in Zangon Kataf local government area.
“According to the report, two persons were killed in the attack, identified as Joshua Dauda and his seven-year-old son Philip Dauda. Also, seven houses, one car and one motorcycle were burnt in the attack.”
Similarly, armed bandits stormed a sugarcane farm on the outskirts of Iyatawa in Giwa LGA, leaving One Isah Haruna, a resident of the area, dead.
Security agencies also reported that a gang of armed bandits was repelled at Rugan Bello, a settlement located along the Kajuru-Buda road in Kajuru LGA.
The bandits invaded the village in the early hours of today in an attempt to kidnap locals but met a stonewall erected by community vigilante members.
“As the bandits retreated shooting sporadically, one of their members was hit by a shot and died instantly,” Aruwan disclosed.
On the complaints by workers and activists el Rufai said he “was elected to promote equality of opportunity, to build and run schools and hospitals, upgrade infrastructure and make the state more secure and attractive to the private sector for jobs and investments.”
He lamented that the government’s finances have been severely stretched by the high wage bills at a time when revenues from the Federation Account Allocations Committee (FAAC) have not increased.
“In November 2020, KDSG had only N162.9m left after paying salaries after receiving 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.”
In March 2021, the state’s allocation was N4.819 billion from FAAC and paid out N4.498 billion, representing 93% of the money received.
He adds: “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 IGR earnings.
“In September 2019, Kaduna State Government became the first government in the country to pay the new minimum wage and consequential adjustments.
“The state government followed this up by increasing the minimum pension of persons on the defined benefits scheme to N30,000 monthly.
“This step to advance the welfare of workers significantly increased the wage burden of the state government and immediately sapped up the funds of many local governments.
“While the Kaduna State Government believes that public sector wages overall are still relatively low, their current levels are obviously limited by the resources available to the government.
“What each public servant earns might be puny in comparison to private-sector wages, but the total wage bill consumes much of the revenues of the state.
“The 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.
“A painful but necessary step to take, for the sake of the majority of the people of this state, the public service of the state with less than 100,000 employees (and their families) cannot be consuming more than 90% of government resources, with little left to positively impact the lives of the more than nine million that are not political appointees or civil servants.
“It is gross injustice for such a micro-minority to consume the majority of the resources of the state.”
According to him, the purpose of the sacks is to save funds and ensure that a strong and efficient public service exists to use those resources to implement progressive programmes and projects for the people, and thereby develop the state.