By Steve Oni, Ilorin

 The Kwara state government would sanction five principal officers, including two retirees, who connived and illegally recruited 1,420 teachers in the state’s teaching service commission (TSC) against 449 approved by the government.

 Similarly, the state government has placed an embargo on the employment of new staff at the 16 local governments pending the time each of the councils would prune down to the required number of staff it can cater for financially.

 These were parts of decisions  arrived at the end of the state’s executive council meeting which was described as the longest in the history of the governor Abdulfath Ahmed led administration in the state.

 The State’s Commissioners for Education and Human Capital Development, Alhaji Musa Yeketi, Energy, Alhaji Abubakar Garba, Information and Communications, Alhaji Mahmud Babatunde Ajeigbe and Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media and Communications, Dr. Muideen Akorede, briefed journalists at the  weekend on the various decisions of the council.

 Blaming the erring officers for the fate of the beneficiaries of the illegal recruitments whom he described as ‘‘floating’, Yeketi said the state government in 2014, approved the recruitment of 150 teaching staff and 206 security guards and also 93 teaching staff in 2015.

 He said the approvals were ‘‘for specific subjects specialists in Mathematics, English Language and other Science subjects’’, lamenting that the commission went ahead to recruit ‘‘all sorts of persons’’.

 ‘‘It was perpetrated by five principal officers; two of them have retired and the law will take   its course on them .For those who are still in service, the civil service rule will take its course accordingly’’, he said.

 The commissioner added that due process was also not followed in the recruitment of the approved 449 staff, which prompted the state government to direct that that their appointments be regularised. 

 Speaking further, Yeketi said though the state government would not sack the affected persons, he however clarified that they would only be re-absorbed based on critical assessment needs of the ministry.  

 ‘‘For those affected persons, government is not interested in sacking anybody, they are only floating, government will take them up based on the critical assessment needs of the ministry ,they have to show up and regularise their appointments’’, the commissioner said.

 On the recent report of the state’s personnel data management system during which 81,446 staff were verified under state and local government pay rolls, senior special assistant to the governor on media , said over 71 ,000 workers were verified while ‘‘8,863 were designated as ghost workers’’.

 The governor’s aide said the Council had placed embargo on recruitment of new staff at the council level as a measure to prune down over bloated staff which is affecting payment of salaries.

 This, he said would be done through ‘‘natural elimination’’, saying ‘‘there will be no replacement in the case of ‘‘death and retirement of staff until the affected council’s come down to the maximum limit of the number of staff it can pay their salaries.

 Also speaking, the commissioner for information and communications, said council had approved the construction of two additional campuses for the Kwara state university in Osi and Ilesha Baruba at the cost of N2.8 billion which according to him, would be funded through the I-FK window.

 The Commissioner for Energy also informed journalists that the state government has approved N6.07 billion contracts for the phase 1 of the light up Kwara project that would cover 78 kilometre-major roads in Ilorin while the second phase would extend to Omu-Aran, Offa road and Moro.