Re: Katsina promises not kept

Contrary to Kaita’s assertion, there is nothing like promises not kept in the relationship between the Governor Shema-led administration and the civil servants in the state. Probably, Ahmed Kaita is not in tune with his constituency or he just decided to be a mischief-maker. Katsina state government commenced full implementation of minimum wage of N18,625 […]

Contrary to Kaita’s assertion, there is nothing like promises not kept in the relationship between the Governor Shema-led administration and the civil servants in the state. Probably, Ahmed Kaita is not in tune with his constituency or he just decided to be a mischief-maker. Katsina state government commenced full implementation of minimum wage of N18,625 for the state civil servants since January this year, and this can be confirmed from any civil servant in the state. The only group of workers that are yet to benefit are the local government workers, and the delay for implementation at local council level was caused by the biometric verification of workers, the preliminary result of which led to the discovery of thousands of ghost workers.

In all sincerity, Katsina workers have never had it so good under any other administration. The administration constructed 1,720 houses that were sold to the populace at 50 percent of the construction cost. Shema directed that all the civil servants that are beneficiaries of this housing scheme should only pay 10 percent of the 50 percent subsidized cost, while the remaining balance should be paid over a period of 15 years. Also the children of civil servants in Katsina State have been enjoying free education in the state’s public schools, including WAEC and NECO examination fees.

So far it is only in Katsina that civil servants enjoy salary bonus, and if Ahmed Kaita knows any other state it would serve public interest if he can mention them. Similarly under the Katsina State scholarship scheme, many of the civil servants’ children are sponsored for foreign studies. Not only this, some civil servants have benefited from the foreign training scheme of Governor Shema administration, all these can be verified.

Katsina state is among the very few states in Nigeria that implemented the Teacher Salary Scheme (TSS) more than a year ago. Also the state since year 2011 has commenced full implementation of a new salary scheme for the state health and judicial workers. Sometime last year, when the federal medical centre in Katsina recruited some nurses, the nurses recruited from the state hospitals turned down the offer upon discovery that the salary being paid at federal medical center in Katsina was lower than what they were being paid at Katsina State hospitals. It is in recognition of this that the national health workers union decided to honour Governor Shema as the most dedicated governor to health workers’ welfare in Nigeria.

From all indications, Ahmed Kaita has lost focus as a representative of his constituency in the National Assembly. And if he does not understand the work of a federal legislator, peddling rumour and misinformation about Katsina State civil servants further shows that he is not competent to be a councillor.

Aliyu Hassan is wrote from Katsina