Kano govt exposes how Ganduje recruited JSS students into civil service

The Kano State Government has exposed how the immediate past administration, under the leadership of the current All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje, carried out inappropriate recruitment into the state's Civil Service.

The Kano State government said the former Governor undertook a mass employment exercise without recourse to necessary guidelines and service regulation.

According to Abdullahi Baffa Bichi, Secretary to the Kano State Government (SSG), the Ganduje government gave employment to unqualified persons, including Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) Students.

At the inception of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf'sadministration, the government ordered the suspension of salaries to some civil servants, especially those appointed during the latter days of the previous government.

It subsequently set up a committee to screen and verify recruitment conducted by the Ganduje government.

Meanwhile, presenting the committee's findings on Friday, November 24, 2023, Bichi said it was discovered that the last administration undertook mass employment without recourse to necessary guidelines and service regulation.

He added the committee also recommended the dismissal of over 3,000 workers deemed wrongfully recruited into the state civil service.

"The verification committee report was received by the Government and its salient observations and recommendations were noted and accepted. The majority of the employment was not captured in the 2023 Approved Budget and a significant percentage of those employed had neither applied nor indicated interest to serve which form a major aspect of employment requirement.

"Most of those employed did not undergo processes of screening and recruitment interviews as expected by the service regulations; employed were found to have suspicious or forged certificates, while many non-indigenes were employed in spite of a large number of qualified unemployed indigenes roaming.

"The employment did not take into consideration the actual manpower needs of the respective MDAs but was influenced by the desire to tie down the new Administration financially; our streets and those employed were wrongly placed through deployment to non-career posts or the calling of their respective qualifications.

"There was gross underemployment where officers with higher qualifications attracting senior cadres were employed on the junior cadre of the service contrary to the needs of the MDAs and approval granted for such employment.

"A number of students in their active study years were also found to be employed, including students of junior secondary schools, senior secondary schools and some in their early stages of tertiary education; a number of persons recruited were found to be undergoing their National Service Program (NYSC) while a number of people confirmed to be overaged or under-aged were found to be employed and on the State payroll," Bichi added.