The crisis rocking Rivers State took a new dimension yesterday with the governor, Siminalayi Fubara, cancelling 10, 000 civil service jobs approved by his predecessor, Nyesom Wike.
Fubara said a new recruitment process would be carried out subsequently.
Speaking when he received a delegation of leaders and members of the RIWAMA Service Providers Association, on a Solidarity Walk to the Government House Gate in Port Harcourt yesterday Fubara said he took the decision because most of the people employed by his predecessor were over aged.
He was represented by the Head of Rivers State Civil Service, Dr George Nwaeke.
Fielding questions from the audience, the governor said, “I know that is the first question, the ten thousand jobs. When we came on board we already had details that were submitted to us from the 23 local government areas.
“You will agree with me that when we subjected those names to proper scrutiny, most of those names, in fact, 60 per cent of those names were over-aged. They were names that people brought for political patronage.
“But what we are talking about today is employment for the future. I, personally after the analysis of those things, said ‘How will you employ somebody who is 52 years old as a civil servant.
“How many years is the person going to work before retirement?”
Fubara assured that the social contract between his administration and the Rivers people won’t be broken as he challenged service providers for the Rivers State Waste Management Agency to redouble their efforts and make sure that refuse wastes are cleared off the streets promptly to have a cleaner city always.