From Salisu Zakari Maradun, Gusau
Some civil servants in Zamfara who felt disappointed with the present government of the state have expressed their readiness and willingness to go for voluntary retirement if they could get their benefits as they are fed up with the current hardship they are experiencing due to what they described as Gov Dauda Lawan’s poor administration of the state, checks by our correspondent in the state had revealed..
According to the checks many of the workers in the state who for long were due for promotion have not been promoted and even those who were lucky to have been promoted are yet to enjoy their promotion benefits as the government refused to implement it.
It was also revealed that some of them are crying over the poor salary they collect which is not up to the 30,000 minimum wage as promised by the governor recently that he will approve and effect the payment of 30,000 to all the workers in the state with effect from last June 2024, but to their dismay the governor is not even interested in the matter.
Due to the poor salary, continued the checks, almost all the workers in the state are highly indebted to banks and other individuals as their monthly salary cannot take them even three days from the day it was paid.
As a result of this, according to the checks, some of them have sold their cars or mortgaged it, while those with two houses sold one in order to settle their debts following threats of legal action against them by their creditors and those who did not have any of the means mentioned above resorted to fleeing the state for fear of being arrested.
A number of them who spoke to The Authority in the state expressed their displeasure over what they described as dishonesty from the government which they worked very hard to install.
One of them, Aminu Muhammad, while speaking with our correspondent, stated that he was disappointed with the PDP led government of the state, because non of them (civil servants) ever contemplated what is happening now as far as their welfare is concerned, and going by what the governor promised do to them during his electioneering campaign adding that, “this man made a pledge to us that he will make us happy, but to our surprise, instead of forward, we are only going backward, no progress.
“For instance, I am on grade level 12 now, but my salary is still below 50,000 and in addition to that, we have never been provided with any palliatives as done in other states despite all the difficulties and hardship we are suffering from, he added.
Also speaking, another worker who gave his name as Abdullahi Musa a grade level 13 step 4 worker. According to him, all the promotion he got were not during the present administration.
At the time of filling in this report, thousands of the state workers are willing to drop their jobs to avoid what they described as “slavery in disguise” under Dauda’s government who they also said is not for the people of he state in general but for his non-indigenous friends and colleagues with whom he worked during his days in the bank.
