We won’t retrench workers – Kogi govt

The Kogi government has said that the ongoing screening of workers at state and local government levels is not aimed at retrenchment.

The Head of Service, Mr. Moses Atakpa, told newsmen in Lokoja on Sunday that the exercise was to create an accurate data base of staff in the state.

Atakpa said that the intention was to also plug loopholes through which public funds were being siphoned in the guise of salary payment.

On the refusal of some categories of staff in ministries and some local governments to proceed on a 30-day compulsory leave as ordered by the state government on Feb. 15, he said that his office had started enforcing compliance.

He identified the agricultural development programme in the state as one of the organisations where the order was recently enforced, insisting that the directive must be fully complied with by all affected officers.

The order applied to 38 permanent secretaries, directors of finance and administrations and chief accountants in all the ministries, council treasurers, education secretaries, directors of local government and cashiers in the 21 Local Government Areas.