Sokoto Guber Candidate Warns Retired Officials Are Blocking Young Workers

(ADC Candidate, Manir Muhammad Dan’iya. Photo by Daily Trust)

An opposition gubernatorial candidate in Sokoto State is pushing the government to change how it handles retired officials staying in their jobs.

Manir Muhammad Dan'iya, the African Democratic Congress candidate, says keeping retired civil servants in active positions is damaging the state's workforce and blocking young people from advancing in their careers.

He claims retired teachers, headmasters, principals, and permanent secretaries are staying in their old posts instead of being given time-bound contracts for specific work.

Dan'iya argued that a civil service needs rules, professionalism, and proper succession planning to function.

Once you stop following those principles, the whole system starts to break down.

He also accused the government of putting unqualified people in important roles.

Teachers are being assigned to handle finances while trained accountants sit idle.

Some workers have almost nothing to do, while others only show up to the office a few days a week.

This kind of dysfunction affects the government's ability to deliver basic services education, healthcare, water, infrastructure, agriculture, and security all suffer when the civil service isn't working properly.

Dan'iya said retired workers whose skills are still needed should be brought back through proper contracts with clear timelines, not indefinite extensions that keep them in the system without purpose.

If elected, his administration would focus on hiring and promoting people based on merit, not connections.

He wants officers working in positions that match their qualifications and expertise, and he wants to plan for proper succession so institutions don't fall apart when people retire.

He warned that letting the Sokoto civil service collapse would hurt the entire state.