Senator Dino Melaye has accused Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state of
squandering N1.5Billion on the state staff verification exercise, causing
untold hardship on people of the state.
Recall that Bello had on assuming office in 2016 vowed to sanitize the
state worksforce by conducting audit in the civil service to determine
real from ghost workers.
About N1.5billion has so far spent on the exercise.
Condemning the huge sums spent on the exercise which is yet to be
concluded, Senator Melaye described the exercise as a waste of resources
which he said has inflicted pains on Kogi people.
In a statement obtained by Pointblanknews.com, Melaye described Governor
Bello’s administration as “confused” and lacking in direction.
The Statement reads:
It is no longer news that the punitive measures employed by the Kogi state
government in facilitating its endless staff verification and auditing
exercise have exacerbated the state’s induced economic conundrum and
sent some law abiding citizens to their early graves while some others
have been subjected to robbery, dehumanizing, kidnapping and rape but
what is now news is the amount of tax pays’ money allegedly used in
fostering the pain inflicting exercise of the cruel confused Direction
Team of Governor Yahaya Bello.
Investigations have shown that over 1.3 billion naira was callously
lavished on the staff verification and auditing exercise while 270 million
naira was used just to write the report of the exercise that obviously
seemed to have died on arrival.
After assuming office on January 27, 2016, Governor Bello’s administration
inaugurated a staff verification and auditing committee on February 22,
2016, aimed at curtailing leakages, sanitizing the state’s civil service
and weed ghost workers from the government’s pay rolls but since then ,
more than three other committees headed by different people have been
inaugurated to undertake the same responsibility given the manner the
various committees saddled with the responsibility of fighting corruption
in the civil service were on their own caught in the act they were paid to
fight.
While Kogites first saw the frivolous exercise as a welcome development
given the way it was first painted and pasted to the public, but they were
however taken aback when the first committee headed by a retired army
General, Paul Olushola Okuntimo could not justify the confidence
reposed in them.
According to reports, the Okuntimo Committee resorted to military high
headedness and was glaringly coloured with allegations of indiscipline,
fraud and inordinate mass sack, thereby making Labour and other concerned
workers to demand for its sack. The committee was later disbanded after a
protracted public uproar and its chairman subsequently replaced by Dr.
Jerry Agbaji, a candidate largely believed to be supported by the state’s
chapter of Nigeria Labour Congress.
One wondered why it was still not clear to the Confused Direction Team and
its master that, the screening exercise lacked the wherewithal to deliver
its mandate but rather throwing in the towel and employed more people
friendly and digital approaches, Governor Bello and his bamboozled team
still went ahead to install another back up committee headed by the
state’s Auditor General, Alhaji Yusufu Okala to work from the backend
simultaneously with the Agbaji’s committee.
However, when Agbaji’s report was submitted on Wednesday 22nd June, 2016
the report was far below average as it was reported to be marred and
doctored so as to please the wishes of a few corrupt individuals within
Bello’s administration. Following the allegation of the sharp practice
associated with Agbaji’s report, 12 members out of the total 29 members
of the panel declined appending their signatures on the final reports and
distanced themselves from whatever was the outcome.
This further led the government to disband the Agbaji’s panel and
empowered the Okala’s back up panel to fully take charge of the
verification exercise. Okala’s committee swung into action without much
ado and after a few weeks it gave a detailed presentation of its findings
on a live broadcast aired on Nigeria Television Authority some times in
July, 2016. It disclosed that out of the 88,973 people it screened at the
State and local governments, 18,211 were discovered to be ghost workers
and unintended
beneficiaries, adding that the state will enjoy a monthly saving of 1.3
billion from the exercise.
Another committee was also immediately set up by Governor Bello for the
review of the final report whose lethargic style of work spanned almost
through year 2016 while their feeding, hotel lodge, sitting allowances and
even transport bills were footed from tax payers’ money. As far as this
staff verification and audit is concerned, there is no end to formulation
and inauguration of Governor Bello’s amoebic and amorphous committees as
he is allegedly bent on fighting vendetta and scoring voodoo
political goals while subjecting the state’s workforce to begging,
indebtedness and all form of in human treatments.
As at the time of writing this piece, another committee was also said to
be in place and were still doing almost everything claimed to have been
done by the previous committees, a clear indication that there is an
unwavering confusion in the so-called New Direction camp and it is an
empirical proof that governor Bello and his handlers lack the 21st
Century’s initiatives needed to upgrade the workforce and place it on a
productive pedestal.
All over the world, it is a global standard that, staff verification and
auditing exercise should be able to focus on policy formation aimed at
improving on the welfare and services of the workforce through diligent
implementation of the recommendations of the said exercise provided it is
being done according to standard.
While I abhor the existence of the so called ghost workers system which
have milked the state of its precious resources and made a few privileged
people rich at the peril of the entire state, it is germane to note that,
staff verification and auditing exercise should not only be narrowed down
to weeding ghost workers or even depriving genuine workers of their
rightful jobs, but should be strong and potent enough to look into the
spores in the civil service system, identifying the accurate number of man
power needed as the state’s workforce and create room for employment where
necessary as well as formulating sound policy for pensioners.
Bello’s staff verification and auditing exercise is in all standards and
judgments politically motivated and was never meant to better the state’s
fortunes so that, despite the directive of the state house of Assembly to
suspend the exercise while asking member of the panel to appear before it,
but for the reign of executive impunity, Governor Bello never gave a dime.
The exercise under reveal, has revealed Bello’s desperation to superglue
himself to the golden seat in the Luggard House as the people he has been
appointing so far were believed to be his future machineries to facilitate
his evil bids come 2019. Otherwise, how could a small state like Kogi
undertake staff verification exercise for almost one and half year while
the federal government and other states only used a few weeks to conclude
the same exercise and have a perfect outcome? So long as the exercise
continues, those who are feeding fat on it will continue to enjoy even
though the people are crying. That is what you will get when some members
of the committee always smile home with 100, 000k per sitting beside other
benefits.
Governor Bello should explain to Kogites why Some persons especially from
the core northern states were imported into the state and imposed on
Kogites to embark on the exercise that have subjected the people to this
hellish situation. It is a known fact that, some individuals from northern
states like Zamfara, Bauchi and core northern regions are actively
involved in the screening and they have been lodging in Riverton hotel
right from the inception of the screening exercise till date even at the
expense of Kogi state tax payers. while diverting the state’s resources.
This is when the genuine citizens are hungry and the genuine workers in
the state have been denied of wages for over ten months but people from
other states who were imported into the state are eating Queen’s food
daily while bonfide Kogites are languishing in hunger despite the bailout
funds which the government claimed it received. No doubt, Governor Bello
is anti-people governor and has no single welfare policy for the people he
claimed to lead.
Several people have lost their lives because of suffering emanating from
unpaid salaries while many died on transit for the endless screening some
others suffered robbery with their original certificates confiscated and
burnt. Some people have been kidnapped and in most cases, kidnappers
demanded for just for 20k.
Little wonders, the rate of kidnapping is ever increasing in the state to
the point that, even commuters’ lives are no longer safe while commuting
the state. About six commuters were kidnapped a few days ago in Okene
while transiting from Onitsha to Abuja. Despite this, the Governor still
have the effrontery to arrange for a national award as the best Governor
in Security related matters.
Governor Bello should tell Kogites why crime rate has astronomically
increased within his few months in the office because, since he does not
have good policy on ground for job creation, he should stop sacking people
and emptying them of their livelihood. When youth are left idle, evil and
satanic ideology could easily be implanted into them.
Many professors of good standing lecturing at the state’s owned university
including a former rector of Kogi Polytechnic, were falsely sacked by
Bello’s screening panel and declared ghost workers while some other staff
totaling Over 623 of Kogi state university were declared ghost workers,
making most qualified staff of the school to work their ways to other
schools void of hostile working environment.
This is even when there is no governing Council in all higher institutions
in the state since Bello assumed office which is contrary to the rule of
NUC and NBTE. Over 200 workers of Kogi Poly were also declared as ghost
workers. Under Bello, the confluence state has become the confluence of
ghost workers.
It therefore behooves on the people of Kogi state to demand total end to
this callous and endless staff screening and verification exercise
especially the civil right movement should wake up to this challenge, and
Kogites should ensure reawakening of investigative journalism in the
state to enable Bello and his co-travelers know that, indeed sovereignty
belongs to the people.
Senator Dino Melaye, is the senator representing the good people of Kogi
West Senatorial District.