Then read this QUOTE on Plateau State: “We have found out that states with about 45,000 workers pay about N800 million as monthly salary. The biometric system puts Plateau workers at 17,000 workers yet our wage bill is N1.7 billion,” he said.......... described the sum as “simply incredulous and unacceptable...." Some people are on grade level 8 but receive salaries meant for level 16 officers. Others have primary school certificates and are retiring on grade level 14. “In another instance, some of the workers connived and stole N66 million scholarship funds. “There are many other people, who are taking money that they should not be taking. Some are no longer in the service but they are maintained in service. People are maintaining fictitious names and drawing salaries,” the commissioner said."
With the amount of stealing going on in Nigeria, it is a miracle that country has not gone bankrupt and collapsed! In the last few weeks, no day passed without media houses, in connivance with our thieving public officials, offending our sensibility with Millions, Billions, trillions stolen all over the place: The Pension Fund scam stealing in billions, the oil subsidy looting in trillions, Bukola Saraki robbing banks in millions: Nigeria would be funny if it were not ridiculous!
Bayelsa to Check Ghost Workers, Irregular Employment
Yenagoa - Members of the Bayelsa State Staff Verification and Audit Committee have been charged to thoroughly comb the entire payment process in the state's civil service with a view to fishing out ghost workers, cases of irregular employment and duplicate as well as multiple employment.
Bayelsa State Governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson gave the charge in Government House, Yenagoa while inaugurating an eight-member Staff Verification and Audit Committee that is saddled with the responsibility of ascertaining the exact staff strength of the state as well as plug all wastages.
Governor Dickson, who recalled what he said during his formal inauguration that steps would be taken to check the wastages in the system, remarked that government was matching words with action, by inaugurating this committee.
The Governor said the issue of unacceptably high wage bill had been a serious hindrance to infrastructural development in the state, pointing out that it was now time to squarely tackle it the problem head-on, with a view to reducing the staggering wage bill.
He said what the state needed was a vibrant, efficient and well-motivated civil service and not an over–bloated and fraudulent service.
Governor Dickson said he would spare no effort in ensuring that the state has a clean civil service that is deserving of respect, adding that the present administration is willing to give the civil service the necessary support to perform.
Hon Dickson, who said he expects an interim report which will state how much the committee has been able to save through the verification exercise, within one week, called on those whose salaries were delayed to bear with government, adding that the exercise is intended to cleanse the system of fraud and irregularities.
Responding, chairman of the committee, Chief Ipigansi Izagara, who doubles as the Special Adviser to the Governor on Information, Communication Technology (ICT) and Data, assured the Governor that his committee would do a thorough job that Bayelsans would be proud of.
Chief Izagara, who is reputed to have successfully carried out a similar exercise in the old Rivers State, said with a staff strength of less than 50,000, it was grossly abnormal to have a wage bill running up to N5.5 billion, adding that the committee was poised to turn the situation around.
The committee is expected, among other things, to review the payment vouchers for the last three month for some select ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs); to collect payment vouchers from the MDAs and compare same with vouchers from the Treasury Department and also update staff data in the state, using the biometric exercise.
The committee will also review and verify all pensions and gratuities and equally review the employment processes of parastatals and determine if these processes conform with extant laws.
The committee has representatives from the state branch of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the Nigeria Police Force, Ministry of Justice as well as the office of the Head of Service, with the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Treasury and Accounts, Mr. Timipre Seipulu as Secretary
Plateau discovers fake commisisoner on its payroll - MAY 1, 2012 ·
Jos - The Plateau Government has expressed frustration that its efforts to curb corruption in its public service are being thwarted by workers in the state.
The Commissioner for Information, Mr Abraham Yiljap, said that among the corrupt practices found in the system was the discovery of a fake commissioner in the state service.
Yiljap said in an interview in Jos on Tuesday that the alleged fake commissioner had been earning the salary and allowances attached to the office.
He described the level of corruption in the state service as “nauseating’’.
“There is a fake commissioner on the payroll of Plateau state government. I mean somebody appointed himself as commissioner and has been receiving salaries and other perks of office as one.
“We have a lot of bad things. Some people are on grade level 8 but receive salaries meant for level 16 officers. Others have primary school certificates and are retiring on grade level 14.
“In another instance, some of the workers connived and stole N66 million scholarship funds.
“There are many other people, who are taking money that they should not be taking. Some are no longer in the service but they are maintained in service. People are maintaining fictitious names and drawing salaries,” the commissioner said.
The commissioner said it was sad that workers had continued to thwart the government’s efforts to cleanse the system.
He said the workers engaged in all forms of corrupt practices, particularly through the falsification of names in salary vouchers.
Yiljap said the state had a monthly wage bill of N1.7 billion and described the sum as “simply incredulous and unacceptable.
“That huge wage bill is taking its toll on our efforts to execute capital projects.
“Some workers are retiring, some are actually leaving the service totally and some have died. So, the total number of workers and the wage bill should actually go down, but it is rising, paradoxically.’’
The commissioner said that the state government had 17,000 workers but it had compared its wage bill with those of states with 45,000 employees and found that its wage bill was much higher.
“We have found out that states with about 45,000 workers pay about N800 million as monthly salary. The biometric system puts Plateau workers at 17,000 workers yet our wage bill is N1.7 billion,” he said.
The commissioner said the government had constituted committees on the issue and carried out biometric data capturing.
He said it was sad that a cartel kept frustrating efforts to cleanse the system.
“We have tried different measures but when you take one step, they find a way of frustrating and truncating it and when you take another step, they find another way of truncating it; this is what we are facing.
“Government has continued to lose about a billion naira monthly through this racket. But we will go after them. We will continue to bring in other measures until we fish out those behind these acts. We must deal with them appropriately.”
He said the civil service commission had been directed, and was being strengthened to take actions against those who had been found liable, in accordance with due process.
“Government will release the names of those, who have been found guilty in corrupting the systems. We are compiling the names. As we continue to investigate, we will expose them so that they will know that we are serious.
“These people that went and worked out a fake commissioner, those who stole N66 million scholarship fund and those who are inflating figures and using fictitious names, we shall soon expose them and deal with them,’’ he declared. (NAN)
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