The Kogi State Government on Tuesday announced no fewer than 52 names recently approved by Governor Yahaya Bello to take on positions in the governments as Special Advisers and Senior Special Assistants and amongst others.
The Secretary to the State Government, Dr Folashade Arike on Tuesday announced the appointment in a statement, congratulating the new appointees and urging them to contribute to the development of the state.
One of the new appointees, Hajia Halima Idris, the former Special Adviser to Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, is now the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Bello on Creative Arts.
Mrs. Idris was sacked alongside 19 other political appointees by Gov El-Rufai two months ago.
El-Rufai labeled them as the “first set of political appointees to depart the ongoing right-sizing of the public service.”
“Therefore, the state government has no choice but to shed some weight and reduce the size of the public service. It is a painful but necessary step to take, for the sake of the majority of the people of this state.
“The public service of the state with less than 100,000 employees and their families cannot be consuming more than 90 per cent of government resources, with little left to positively impact the lives of the more than nine million that are not political appointees or civil servants.
“It is gross injustice for such a micro minority to consume the majority of the resources of the State,” he said.
However, she has found her way in to the good books of Governor Bello and that of the state’s public service.
“Your appointment is based on your experience, commitment and loyalty to the government. You are therefore expected to be more committed in the discharge of your duties to the expectations of His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Kogi State to enhance the rapid growth of the state,” Arike, the SSG stated.
Her appointment, according to the letter of appointment, took effect on July 19th.
