Tears flowed freely at the Jema’a Local Government Area Secretariat in Kafanchan, Kaduna State, on Wednesday as about 82 staff of the council received letters of disengagement from the Kaduna State Government.

The disengagement followed weeks of speculations that the state government was planning to downsize its workforce across the 23 Local Government Areas.

When NAN visited the Secretariat, some of the affected members of staff were seen struggling to fight back tears.

According to the letter, the move is in line with the ongoing restructuring of the Local Governments in the state to reposition them for efficient service.

One of the affected staff, who pleaded anonymity, wondered why the state government will take such an action at a trying time.

“Why is the state government doing this to us now. Don’t they know the difficult times we are in as a country.

“People are barely struggling to survive with the little they are earning and then you decide to take the food out of their mouth,” the affected staff member said.

Another affected staffer, who did not want his name mentioned for fear of being denied his entitlement, told NAN that he has accepted his fate and was looking forward to better days ahead.

On his part, Ajayi Chiroma, who said he had five years left in service, appealed to the state government to ensure prompt payment of affected staff benefits as stated in the letter.

“I just hope they pay us our entitlements soon enough because that’s the only thing we are going to fall back to at the end of the day.

“That’s the only thing that can console us right now. So, government should please do the needful since they don’t require our services anymore,” he added.

The Council Vice Chairman, Micah Ngboni, told NAN that he could not give further details other than that “not more than 82 people were affected”.

– NAN