LGSC, Engine room for Staff Efficiency and Productivity
From Hassan Abubakar Borgu.
To enhance good governance and effective administration of government at the grassroots, the local government councils are created to cater to the immediate needs and well-being of Nigerians at the grassroots level.
To achieve these noble goals and objectives, the state government has established an agency known as the Local Government Service Commission, saddled with a clear mandate to cater to these needed goals of the local government council in every state of the nation.
In Niger State, North Central Nigeria, Alhaji Isa Sidi Rijau is the Chairman of the Local Government Service Commission, and he spoke to our zonal Correspondent Abubakar Hassan Shiyaki about some of the mandates of the Commission to bring development and enhance the service delivery of the local government council staff in the state.
“Some of the mandates of the Commission is recommended of staff to the services of the local government council who are eligible and qualified from grade level 07 to grade level 17 and level 01 to 06 are recruited by the local government council, training of staff, discipline as well as transfer of staff from one local government council to another to enhance Thier efficiency and productivity.”
On the issue of flushing out ghost workers at the local government council, the Chairman explains:
“The issue of checkmating ghost workers can be done at the local government council, and even their recruitment from the lower level will be supervised by the commission as required by the law, but unfortunately, some local government councils ignore the commission and go ahead with the recruitment exercise without consulting the commission.
He explained that the present administration of Niger state government under Mohammed Umar Bago had given the commission the go-ahead to correct the anomalies of the recruitment process at the local government council and ensure the right things are done to put the council in its proper place for good governance in Niger state.
Alhaji Isah Sidi Rijau explained that the issue of local government council autonomy is a good idea, but there should be a mechanism set aside to checkmate the reckless spending of some of the local government council Chairmen if the desired goals should be achieved.
“I was once a three-time local government council Chairman in my area and during that period we were receiving our grants directly from the federal government and we were able to carry out both human capital development and the infrastructure development of the council because of the integrity, trust, fairness, transparent and accountability we can build with people”.
He said to achieve these set goals, there is a need for the state government to put an eagle eye on the financial spending of the local government council as well as other agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crime Commission to be involved.
He spoke on the journey of the committee the Rijau Old Boys Student Association inaugurated to carry out an assessment report of the rehabilitation of the school and being the Chairman of the committee,
“the committee has not met to hold their meeting because of the nature of the location some of the members are and very soon they will seek the mandate of them and those that are in Minna will hold the meeting and come out with the workable plans of the rehabilitation project of the School and if funds were released, the committee will swing into action”