20/08/2026
OPEN LETTER
To:
The Chairmen of Local Government Councils, Rivers State
The Rivers State Local Government Service Commission
Copy:
His Excellency, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, GSSRS
Executive Governor of Rivers State
Rivers State Government
Other Relevant Authorities
Date: 20 August 2026
Subject: Urgent Call to Halt the Planned Mass Sacking of Local Government Workers in Rivers State
Your Excellencies and Distinguished Gentlemen,
I write as a deeply concerned citizen of Rivers State, compelled by recent information circulating among local government workers. According to reliable reports, several council chairmen, acting through the Local Government Service Commission, are preparing to sack staff employed under the previous administration. The stated reasons are that those employments were “wrongly done” or that the staff strength has become excessive.
Only the chairmen of Khana and Tai Local Government Areas have so far shown courage and compassion by publicly declaring that they will not sack any worker, regardless of which administration employed them. They have rightly pointed to the severe economic hardship confronting ordinary people. Their stance deserves public commendation.
The rest of the chairmen must urgently reconsider. These workers are not strangers; they are bona fide indigenes of Rivers State. Vacancies arise daily through retirement and, sadly, through death. Filling those vacancies with qualified local people is neither a crime nor an act of political sabotage; it is a responsible response to unemployment.
Yet some chairmen, who themselves occupy temporary elective offices with fixed tenures, appear determined to render thousands of legitimate workers jobless. They will leave office in due course, often with substantial benefits, while the workers they dismiss will return to a labour market already choked by economic distress. Nigerian workers are underpaid; many struggle to meet basic bills even with the little salary they currently receive. Removing that income will push families deeper into poverty, increase despair, and, in the harshest cases, contribute to preventable deaths.
There is also a glaring political contradiction. The same chairmen who are planning these sackings are actively campaigning for their preferred candidates in the forthcoming general elections. How can leaders who intend to throw the very people whose votes they solicit into unemployment expect genuine support? Using public funds meant for the development of towns and villages to finance political ambitions while discarding workers is neither wise nor just.
The present economic realities in Nigeria are already brutal. Any deliberate action that multiplies unemployment among the citizenry will only worsen suffering. I therefore appeal, with all sense of urgency and responsibility, that the Local Government Service Commission and the affected council chairmen immediately abandon this plan. Preserve the jobs of those already employed. Allow natural attrition through retirement and other legitimate exits to create space for future recruitment if necessary.
I respectfully call on His Excellency, Governor Siminalayi Fubara, to intervene decisively. The Governor’s well-known concern for the welfare of Rivers people makes his leadership on this matter both necessary and expected. A clear directive from the highest authority in the state will reassure anxious workers and prevent a crisis of livelihood that the state can ill afford.
The people of Rivers State are watching. Leadership is tested not in times of plenty, but in moments when the weak and vulnerable stand to lose everything. Let this moment be remembered for compassion and wisdom, not for the needless hardship inflicted on thousands of families.
Yours faithfully,
A Concerned Citizen of Rivers State
(Published in the public interest)
