Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia
There is high hope for the sacked employees of Local Government Councils in Benue State who were employed in 2011 but sacked in 2017 by the previous administration of the state.
The Chairman, Benue State Local Government Service Commission (LGSC), Mr. James Ivever, while briefing journalists at the NUJ house Makurdi on Wednesday said the Commission was screening the affected staff with the view reinstating them.
The chairman of the commission said the interface was meant to shed light on the process of reviewing the employment status of workers engaged between 2011 and 2012 who were later removed from the payroll without due process.
Ivever informed that the screening exercise was a directive of Governor Hyacinth Alia which aimed at restoring justice to workers who were legitimately employed but “illegitimately disengaged” by the previous administration in 2017.
He said the affected workers were originally employed following due approvals from the Commission after chairmen across the 23 councils submitted their staff needs, emphasizing that the employment process was legitimate but their disengagement was not sanctioned by the commission, making it necessary to revisit the matter.
The chairman said the Commission is the only body empowered to employ, train, promote, discipline, and retire local government staff as “no council has the right to employ even a level-one officer without our approval. Therefore, when these staff were removed from the payroll in 2017 without any justification, it became imperative to correct that injustice”.
According to him, the commission’s records show 3,862 legitimate workers who were duly approved and employed during the 2011–2012 recruitment exercise but insisted that “any name outside this figure was not captured in the commission’s official records.”
Speaking further, Ivever emphasized that “we are dealing strictly with those whose employments were properly approved. Anyone who found his way onto the payroll without going through due process is not part of this exercise. We have, however, created a desk to take the records of those with peculiar circumstances so that every case can be properly assessed.”
Ivever revealed that for the purpose of transparency, the commission was relying solely on official approved documents rather than appointment letters as many of which were forged or obtained through irregular means.
“The only sure way to ensure fairness is to use the official records of the commission. If we depended on appointment letters, it wouldn’t be transparent because not all were legitimately issued”.
He dismissed with emphasis the allegations that the commission was substituting names during the screening, describing such claims as blackmail by individuals who benefited from irregular employment processes.
As to the fate of those who have died, retired, or secured other employment since 2017, Ivever informed that the screening was only to identify living and available workers who were genuinely employed and unjustly removed as he insisted that “the exercise is not to replace anybody but to reinstate those who deserve to be on the payroll,” he said.
He told journalists that the commission had opened negotiations with representatives of the affected workers and reached an amicable understanding, though he noted that financial decisions rest with the appropriate government agencies.
Ivever also lamented that the previous screening efforts were inconclusive because they lacked transparency and were not supervised by the commission but assured that the present exercise was being carried out under new procedures designed by the commission to prevent irregularities and ensure credibility.
The commission’s boss, further, said Governor Alia’s decision to revisit the issue was as a result of compassion and commitment to fairness in governance.
He said “a responsible government prioritizes the welfare of its citizens, and that is what Governor Alia is demonstrating”.
In his remarks, the Benue Chairman of the NUJ, Comrade Bemdoo Ugber appreciated the commission’s chairman for conducting the screening exercise with the view of reinstating the 2011 employees of the Local Government Councils sacked in 2017.
