Edo set to recruit 3,000 into civil service

The Edo government on Tuesday said it had concluded arrangements to employ no fewer than 3,000 qualified persons into the state civil service.

Igbaeremen Obazelewho, Head of Service (HOS) of the state, made the disclosure while fielding questions from journalists in Benin.

He said the exercise would address the challenges of inadequate human resources in some of the state’s parastatals and ministries.

Obazele, who said that the vacancies had since been articulated and costed, added that “once the memo is finalised and approved by the governor, an advertisement will be placed for the vacant positions.”

The head of dervice, however, differed with the alleged drastic reduction of Edo State work force, saying “no civil servant has been issued any form of retrenchment letter.

“Most of the alleged downsizing of the state workforce from 15,000 to 3,000 is natural; people are retiring naturally.

“This could be the reason but one thing we should be thinking of is to replenish the system with massive employment.

“What I am trying to say is that government has been fair to civil servants in the state and I am not aware of any sack.”

Obazele, who said that some of the pending labour issues were being accorded priority attention since he assumed office as HOS, listed some of the issues as health of workers, salary increment, promotion, re-constitution of the State Civil Service Commission, outstanding pension arrears, training and retraining of civil servants.

He added that the governor had directed the reinstatement of some of the workers who went on years of study leave, whose names were recently deleted from the payroll.