THE disengagement of over 1,000 council workers on Monday notwithstanding, the Oyo State government is finalising arrangement to sack more workers in its local government service in an ongoing purge of the service of frauds, dead woods, certificate forgers and record falsifiers.

Investigation by the Nigerian Tribune revealed that those slated for the next phase are junior workers on Grade Levels 01-06, who constitute the majority of the workforce in the local government service.

They have also been found culpable of the same offences for which the senior cadres on Grade Levels 07-16 were shown the exit from the service on Monday.

A breakdown of the sacked workers showed that 600 of them were found to be untrainable and consequently stagnated in career progression over the years; 442 doctored their age; 68 could not produce their primary school certificates and birth records; three were accused of gross misconduct; and seven were guilty of other offences.

Among those who tampered with their age were Rasheed Busari, Jayeola Samson, Obalolu Fatai, Adegoke Ismail and others.

Those who were fired for doctoring their records and certificates included Abidiesin M.T, Ajibade S.O, Oni Adesola and many others.

Meanwhile, council workers across the 33 local government areas in the state erupted in jubilation over the removal of Directors of Personnel Management (DPMs), who some of the workers described as “demi-gods, parasites, locusts and anti-progress elements” among other denigrating descriptions.

Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune on condition of anonymity, excited workers in some of the councils praised Governor Abiola Ajimobi for mustering the courage to relieve the councils of the DPMs and appointing Heads of Local Government Administration (HLAs) for the council as is the practice in many other states.

Unusual liveliness was said to have characterised the atmosphere in the councils, as workers discussed the development in groups while praising the governor for “lifting a heavy yoke” off the neck of the council workers.

The workers’ joy increased when the confirmation of the redeployment of the DPMs was further reinforced by the dropping of their official cars in the councils and by reporting at their new duty posts.

“The title DPM is an aberration; it does not exist in the scheme of service for the 774 local government councils in the country.

What is in the scheme is HLA and other states have complied with the provisions of the scheme since 2006 when it was revised.

The redeployed DPMs have cashed in on the indecision of past administrations to lord themselves over us as tin gods.

“Not even council chairmen, whether caretaker or elected, could control these gods. Rather than the chairmen, they were the ones who ruled the third-tier of government. We used to call them Lords of the Councils. They have sapped the councils enough; we are happy to see their back. Kudos to Governor Ajimobi for this feat,” one of them said in a telephone interview.

In a related development, Nigerian Tribune has gathered the real reasons the DPMs were redeployed to the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters on Monday.

It was gathered that many of the DPMs had been in local governments for between 10 and 15 years and that they would make the councils difficult for HLAs to administer.

“So government felt that if a DPM had been playing the role of the head of a local government for over 10 years and suddenly, a HLA is brought to assume the headship of the council, it may be difficult for a DPM to submit himself to the authority of the HLA.

Therefore, the most sensible thing to do under this circumstance is to redeploy the DPMs to the ministry so as to pave the way for the smooth running of the local governments.

“Besides, the first thing that was considered by government was to retire the DPMs, particularly those who had served in that capacity for eight years, in line with the Federal Government’s policy that any director or permanent secretary who had served for eight years without promotion should be retired.

“However, since this is not an extant law in Oyo State, government decided to do away with that idea so as not to embark on a retroactive policy, hence the decision to redeploy the DPMs to the ministry rather than retiring them,” a source told the Nigerian Tribune.

Meanwhile, the newly-appointed HLAs were, on Wednesday, given letters of posting with an admonition that they should conduct themselves properly or be dealt with according to law.