Kaduna State government says it will continue to hire skilled and essential workers to fill critical gaps in the public service, even as it proceeds with the rightsizing of the workforce.
Special Adviser to the Gov. Nasir el-Rufai on Media and Communication, Mr Muyiwa Adekeye, stated this in a statement issued on Monday in Kaduna.
He said the recruitment would be made from candidates who took part in the suspended recruitment exercise for core civil service and any agency that required additional manpower, when the need arose.
Adekeye said that in spite of the uncertainty caused by COVID-19 pandemic, government had permitted its agencies offering the most essential services to refresh their teams with new staffers.
He said: “Several government agencies had, since 2020, conducted various recruitments for 10,000 workers. These included officers in the health, education and regulatory sectors.
“Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital employed 283 new doctors, nurses and other essential staffers in November 2020. This has allowed the teaching hospital to grow its doctors to 191, from only 32 in 2015.
“With the 215 doctors in the Ministry of Health, Kaduna State now has 406 doctors working in its public service.
“The Ministry of Health has also recruited 1,064 persons, including 196 technical staffers and 871 non-technical staffers, while 1,225 new staffers have been injected into the primary health care system.’’
According to Adekeye, Kaduna State University (KASU) also employed 159 academic staffers in 2020.
“The College of Education, Gidan-Waya, has submitted a report on its recent recruitment process and is awaiting approval for the resumption of 388 new workers, including lecturers and other categories of personnel,’’ he added.
Adekeye also disclosed that in the regulatory sector, the State Water Services Regulatory Commission had hired 14 more workers to beef up its workforce. (NAN)