Rivers State government led by Governor Nyesom Wike has laid off about 344 employees of the state’s Polytechnic in Bori. The laid off workers included both academic and non academic members of staff.
According to the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the institution, Innocent Ogbonnaya Nwanwo, the governor has also ordered Sir Obianko Worlu Elechi, the Rector of the institution, to go on compulsory leave with immediate effect.
He also revealed that the directive for the changes came in a directive sent by the State Ministry of Education to the Polytechnic.
He said, “The recent employment exercise we had at the Rivers State Polytechnic, Bori has been cancelled. The reason is that the government needed to review the process of their employment. The process that brought in the newly employed people; don’t forget, they have not started work, has been called off; it has been terminated by the state government.
“Right now, they don’t have a job here in the Rivers State Polytechnic. Technically speaking, that is the truth. The Rector is on leave; he was asked to proceed on leave.”
It would be recalled that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the state had earlier raised an alarm in April 2015 that the recruitment process of the polytechnic was illegal as people were being recruited without due process. They claimed that up to 500 people had been hired through the illegal recruitment means.
According to the state’s PDP chairman, Felix Obuah; “The chairman, Rivers State Civil Service Commission, Mr. Ngo Martins-Yellow and the 23 Local Government Caretaker Committee Chairmen are also secretly employing thousands of persons to swell the number of civil servants in government employ and councils, so that the incoming PDP government will battle with the alarming wage bill.
“PDP appreciates the employment of Rivers people, but such employment must follow due process, must not be partisan and without hidden agenda.”
