Governor Babagana Umara Zulum of Borno, Monday, met with labour leaders after which he disclosed the intention of the state government to pardon for some categories of workers who have spent years in the civil service before they were identified with various irregularities during verification exercises.
Zulum said the pardon was to cushion the effects of economic difficulties being faced by citizens across the state, which he said was biting harder on families of persons either on suspension, without jobs or at the risk of losing jobs.
The governor had a closed door meeting with representatives of labour affiliates led by chairman of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) in Borno state, Comrade Yusuf Inuwa, at the council chamber of the Government House, Maiduguri.
The meeting was also attended by the acting Head of Service, Barrister Mallum Fannami.
“Generally, the labour union came to appreciate the government of Borno State for some of our activities concerning workers, particularly on the implementation of promotional benefits.
“All those officers that were promoted from 2016 to 2018 have received their promotional benefits. However, we have those that were inadvertently omitted. I have given a directive that all those that were omitted should be paid this month. We have paid workers promoted in 2016, 2017 and 2018, and then government will look into the possibility of paying promotional benefits for those promoted in 2019, and 2020, insha’Allah,” Zulum said.
When asked about the fate of workers fingered by verification committees for different offences such as fake employment letters, fake certificates and other documents, Governor Zulum said “I have since set up a committee to review the fates of all workers with issues. The committee under the SSG is working hard to submit a report to me soonest.
“We have workers that were erroneously affected by the exercise and insha’Allah we are ever ready to correct all the anomalies and ensure that those that were wrongly affected are cleared for them to continue their work. Those that have committed some offenses, we are all human beings, and we all know that times are very hard now for even people who have jobs and get paid not to talk of those with issues at work.
“Insha’Allah, we will consider pardoning many with some categories of offenses. If someone has worked for 20 or 30 years, we should listen to him or her and help. No one is beyond offences.”
The governor urged all affected workers to be patient, saying: “Very soon we will look into their plight,” Zulum said.
Chairman of the NLC in Borno state, Comrade Yusuf Inuwa, said. The workers were happy with the governor’s efforts to better their conditions of service.
