Gombe State governor, Inuwa Yahaya, has been lauded for embarking on the construction of a befitting state secretariat for the civil service.

The Head of Service (HoS), Ahmed Kasimu Abdullahi, made the commendation in a chat with journalists on Friday while reacting to the foundation laying of the project by the governor.

Abdullahi hailed the development, noting that it would save the state the burden of renting property to house ministries, departments, and agencies.

According to him, the government pays not less than N600 million yearly on rented property used by its ministries, departments, and agencies, as the state has not completed its state secretariat to house their offices.

He revealed that the old secretariat accommodates only two ministries, while all other government offices are scattered in parts of the state capital, even as they are vulnerable to eviction by the owners.

“Currently, the government spends about N600 million yearly to settle rented properties of MDAs. At times, since it is a rented property, an owner has the right to retrieve their property. We have had some instances where people revoked their tenancy agreement and took back their property,” he said.

The Head of Civil Service also commended the governor “for prioritising the welfare of workers in the state through regular salary, pension, and gratuity payments.”

He stated that the governor has settled N17 billion out of the N21 billion backlog of gratuities inherited by his administration.