Authorities approve compulsory retirement of 1,087 civil servants

The Enugu State Government said that it would compulsorily retire no fewer than 1,087 of its civil servants over cases of age-falsification and ill-health.

The state Commissioner for Information, Dr Godwin Udeuhele, told newsmen on Thursday in Enugu, the state capital, that this was part of the outcome of the state executive council’s meeting.

He said that the approval to retire the workers followed the outcome of the report of a committee on staff-audit and capture in the 17 local government areas of the state.

The commissioner said that the committee which was headed by the Speaker, State House of Assembly, Chief Edward Ubosi, had recommended the immediate retirement of the affected workers.

"The committee also identified 3,916 ghost workers and directed the appropriate authorities to do the needful by perfecting their immediate exit from the service in line with extant laws,” he said.

Udeuhele said that the council had also approved N30 million for the State Board of Internal Revenue to procure more vehicle plate numbers to boost the revenue of the state.

"Approval was also given for the release of N55.99 million to enable the state Ministry of Works purchase 11 units of 250 KVA generators and refurbish existing ones to make traffic lights in the state more functional.

"The sum of N100 million was also approved for the Nigerian Construction and Furniture Company (NCFC) to turnaround the fortunes of the company that had been in comatose,” he said.

Udeuhele said that the state government regretted the recent demise of two children of the same parents at Oakland Centre.

He said that one of the facilities in the park malfunctioned and caused the children’s death while there to recreate.

“While we sympathise with the family, the state government has since ordered the closure of the centre as well as set up a committee to undertake a fact-finding mission there,” he said.

Udeuhele said that the committee would also visit other event centres in the state to ascertain the standards of their facilities and how they had been functioning.