Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufa’i has removed all local government treasurers and Directors of Personnel Management (DPM) in the local government councils in the state, saying they would be re-assigned to other areas.
El-Rufai’s action is believed to be as a result of with his anger over the high rate of ghost workers in the state local government councils and the refusal of those concerned to act.
The governor, who announced the decision while swearing in new caretaker committee chairmen for the local government councils in the state, also announced that the councils would henceforth enjoy autonomy.
He ordered the caretaker committee chairmen to fish out ghost workers at all cost, further warning against poor performance.
He also warned the new chairmen that his administration would not condone situations where council chairmen live in the city centre and abandon the people they are supposed to serve.
Each chairman must now be resident in his council area, he said.
El-Rufai added: “If your internally generated revenue and federation account allocation cannot pay your salary, you must do what you need to do so as not to have more people than you need.
“You have no excuse to fail. Perform and bring real development to our state at the local government level.
“I am using this occasion to fulfil our campaign promise. During the campaigns, we said we will not hold local government funds if elected.
“Therefore, I am happy to inform you that the government under our watch has formally abolished joint account in Kaduna State, there will be no more holding local government funds hostage under the pretence of joint account.
“I also wish to inform you that the government will do its best to be remitting 10 per cent of the state’s IGR to the local government areas. Like I said, we must deliver, we can’t let our people down.
“In addition, you are to swing into action and commence carrying out meaningful projects in all the wards in your council.
“Already there is a blueprint of proposed development which you will see and work with as a guide to taking development to our communities.
“Don’t be arrogant to your people, you are assigned to serve them and nothing more than that.
“We will not hesitate to call you to order if you think you will play with our people and the trust vested in you.”
“As soon as you settle down, we want you to document all encroachments into public land.”Any encroachment on school land, hospital and public institutions should be documented and report back to us within two weeks.
“This government will not accept encroachment into school or hospital land, it is our intention to reverse all those encroachments.”
