Governor Siminalayi Fubara has cancelled the 10,000 jobs in the Rivers state civil service approved by his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, shortly before the end of his tenure.
Before leaving office, Wike approved the immediate employment of a significant number of youths to fill existing vacancies in the state’s workforce with immediate effect.
But during an interactive session with stakeholders in Port Harcourt on Friday, Fubara announced a cancel of the recruitment.
The governor noted that the process was flawed and compromised by those entrusted to handle it.
He stated that a more transparent process would commence soon, expressing sadness that when the names of those selected from the 23 local government areas were scrutinized, they were people smuggled in for political patronage.
“I know that is the first question, the ten thousand jobs. When we came on board we already had details that were submitted to us from the 23 local government areas,” Fubara said.
“You will agree with me that when we subjected those names to proper scrutiny, most of those names, in fact, 60 per cent of those names were over-aged. They were names that people brought for political patronage.
“But what we are talking about today is employment for the future. I, personally after the analysis of those things, said ‘How will you employ somebody who is 52 years old as a civil servant?’
“How many years is the person going to work before retirement?”
Meanwhile, Fubara has said the social contract between his administration and the Rivers people will remain an unbroken bond to drive governance on a healthy footing.
The governor, therefore, challenged service providers for the Rivers State Waste Management Agency to redouble their efforts and make sure that refuse wastes are cleared off the streets promptly to have a cleaner city always.
Fubara, who was represented by the Head of Rivers State Civil Service, Dr George Nwaeke, gave the charge when he received a delegation of leaders and members of the RIWAMA Service Providers Association, on a Solidarity Walk to Government House Gate in Port Harcourt on Friday.