Niger APC acuses Aliyu of living civil servants worst than he met them

• It is a lie – Gov’t

From Yakubu Mustapha, Minna

The All Progressive Congress (APC) in Niger state has observed that the present People Democratic Party (PDP) administration led by Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu in Niger state is living behind one of the worst civil service in the entire northern Nigeria with low remuneration and low morale.

But in a swift reaction, the Niger state government said it is a lie, stressing that Niger civil servents are better paid and well motivated.

According to APC Publicity Secretary Jonathan Vatsa, it is on record that Niger state civil servants are the least paid in the region as the government has refused to pay the approved minimum wage to civil servants; instead the Governor only merely added N10, 000 to their normal salary and called it minimum wage.

Governor Aliyu, though a seasoned civil servant who raised to the position of a permanent secretary in the federal civil have denied civil servants in the state their entitlements which include, leave grants, promotions and other benefits in the name of saving cost.

Also responding to the allegation of the APC, governor Aliyu’s spokesman Isreal Ebije said that the Niger state opposition has once again showed how shallow its assessment on governance and government policies are.

“For the avoidance of doubt and to correct the jaundiced perception of the Niger APC, issues of promotion, payments of salaries, leave grants have never been a problem since Dr Muazu Babangida Aliyu came on board in 2007. It is therefore, curious for the opposition to state otherwise” Ebije said.

Vatsa in his statement stated that civil servants in the Niger state have remained at the same grade level since 2009 with no promotion and they have been denied their annual leave grants since inception of this administration.

On the allegation that salaries servicing of loan are paid with SURE-P funds, Aliyu’s CPS stated that it’s a shame on the APC to raise puerile issues that have no bases and just figment of the imagination

of cantankerous elements in the opposition to smear the good work of the governor of Niger state.

Despite all these frustration of the civil servants in the state, the administration of Governor Babangida Aliyu has found it difficult to pay salary if not for the intervention of SURE-P in the state which ontribute well over N230million every month to argument the salary.

Isreal called on the opposition to be focused, constructive and empirical as their drivel on issues would further diminished their already depleted value in the estimation of right thinking electorates.