8th September, 2010
Some local government officials in Oyo State were recently demoted following their dismal performance at an interview organised by the Oyo State Local Government Service Commission to elevate them to administrative cadre.
Chairman of the commission, Mr. Kola Gbadamosi, who spoke at a forum organised by the Oyo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), said that the affected council workers who were on level 13 were demoted to level 07 at the end of the exercise following their poor performance.
Gbadamosi said that the council officials were warned about the implications of trying to cross to the administrative line but they braced all odds and attended the interview.
According to him, “on the whole, about 4,000 local government staff on level 06 upwards adjudged to be suitably qualified for promotion, were promoted vide the years 2007 and 2008 promotion to the next ranks and salary grade levels in the various cadres in the local government service in the state.â€
Gbadamosi added that to further boost the productivity of the council workers, an approval was given to a sizeable number of local government workers to undergo mid term and long term in service training courses in recognised tertiary institutions of learning in the country.
He listed the challenges confronting the service to include inadequate funding for the conduct of various enhancing programmes for local government across the various sub-professional cadres as well as inadequate office accommodation for the secretariat staff of the commission.