The Bayelsa State Government has said that the overaged workers who were recently disengaged from service by the management of the Niger Delta University, Amassoma, were not sacked but retired.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Media Relations, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei, said in a statement that the government approved three months salaries to the affected workers in lieu of disengagement.
He stressed that the three months salaries were approved and released in addition to the retirement benefits of the workers affected by the ongoing implementation of the reforms in the tertiary education sector of the state.
Soriwei said that the narrative in the public domain that the affected workers were asked to go without benefits was a lie masterminded by mischief makers.
He urged the well-meaning people of the state to discountenance the story which he said was being peddled by those who do not mean well for the state.
The media adviser said that Governor Seriake Dickson, reputed to be a leading light in educational promotion in the country, had done so much for the NDU.
Soriwei said that the desire to develop the NDU motivated the governor to ensure the accreditation of all critical courses such as Law, Medicine, Accountancy and others which were erstwhile unaccredited.
He noted that the governor also constructed new academic blocks, staff quarters, the ongoing construction of the ultra modern university Senate building, a network of internal roads in the institution.
He explained that it was inconceivable for over-aged employees to be retained in the payroll of government for ever.
He explained that the affected workers, most of whom were above 60 and 70 years, had to be removed from the system to pave the way for the admission of fresh and young qualified Bayelsans into the system.
Soriwei further said that a committee of government would screen those who were relatively young with a view to assigning them to areas where they would be better utilised.