Senator Dino Melaye has accused Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state of
\nsquandering N1.5Billion on the state staff verification exercise, causing
\nuntold hardship on people of the state.<\/p>\n
Recall that Bello had on assuming office in 2016 vowed to sanitize the
\nstate worksforce by conducting audit in the civil service to determine
\nreal from ghost workers.<\/p>\n
About N1.5billion has so far spent on the exercise.<\/p>\n
Condemning the huge sums spent on the exercise which is yet to be
\nconcluded, Senator Melaye described the exercise as a waste of resources
\nwhich he said has inflicted pains on Kogi people.<\/p>\n
In a statement obtained by Pointblanknews.com, Melaye described Governor
\nBello\u2019s administration as \u201cconfused\u201d and lacking in direction.<\/p>\n
The Statement reads:<\/p>\n
It is no longer news that the punitive measures employed by the Kogi state
\ngovernment in facilitating its endless staff verification and auditing
\nexercise\u00a0 have exacerbated the state\u2019s induced economic\u00a0 conundrum and
\nsent some law abiding citizens to their early graves while some others
\nhave been subjected to robbery,\u00a0 dehumanizing, kidnapping and rape but
\nwhat is now news is the amount of tax pays\u2019 money allegedly used in
\nfostering the pain inflicting exercise\u00a0 of the cruel confused Direction
\nTeam of Governor Yahaya Bello.<\/p>\n
Investigations have shown that over 1.3 billion naira was callously
\nlavished on the staff verification and auditing exercise while 270 million
\nnaira was used just to write the report of the exercise that obviously
\nseemed to have died on arrival.<\/p>\n
After assuming office on January 27, 2016, Governor Bello\u2019s administration
\ninaugurated a staff verification and auditing committee\u00a0 on February 22,
\n2016,\u00a0 aimed at curtailing leakages, sanitizing the state\u2019s civil service
\nand\u00a0 weed ghost workers from the government\u2019s pay rolls\u00a0 but since then ,
\nmore than three other committees headed by different people have been
\ninaugurated to undertake the same responsibility given the manner the
\nvarious committees saddled with the responsibility of fighting corruption
\nin the civil service were on their own caught in the act they were paid to
\nfight.<\/p>\n
While Kogites first saw the frivolous exercise as a welcome development
\ngiven the way it was first painted and pasted to the public, but they were
\nhowever taken aback when the first committee headed by a retired army
\nGeneral, Paul Olushola Okuntimo could\u00a0 not justify the confidence
\nreposed in them.<\/p>\n
According to reports, the Okuntimo Committee resorted to military high
\nheadedness and was glaringly coloured with allegations of indiscipline,
\nfraud and inordinate mass sack, thereby making Labour and other concerned
\nworkers to demand for its sack.\u00a0 The committee was later disbanded after a
\nprotracted public uproar and its chairman subsequently replaced by Dr.
\nJerry Agbaji, a candidate largely believed to be supported by the state\u2019s
\nchapter of Nigeria Labour Congress.<\/p>\n
One wondered why it was still not clear to the Confused Direction Team and
\nits master that, the screening exercise lacked the wherewithal to deliver
\nits mandate but rather throwing in the towel and employed more people
\nfriendly and digital approaches, Governor Bello and his bamboozled team
\nstill went ahead to install another back up committee headed by the
\nstate\u2019s Auditor General, Alhaji Yusufu Okala to work from the backend
\nsimultaneously with the Agbaji\u2019s committee.<\/p>\n
However, when Agbaji\u2019s report was submitted on Wednesday\u00a0 22nd June, 2016
\nthe report was far below average as it was reported to be marred and
\ndoctored so as to please the wishes of a few corrupt individuals within
\nBello\u2019s administration. Following the allegation of the sharp practice
\nassociated with Agbaji\u2019s report, 12 members out of the total 29 members
\nof the panel declined appending their signatures on the final reports and
\ndistanced themselves from whatever was the outcome.<\/p>\n
This further led the government to disband the Agbaji\u2019s panel and
\nempowered the Okala\u2019s back up panel to fully take charge of the
\nverification exercise. Okala\u2019s committee swung into action without much
\nado and after a few weeks it gave a detailed presentation of its findings
\non a live broadcast aired on Nigeria Television Authority some times in
\nJuly, 2016. It disclosed that out of the 88,973 people it screened at the
\nState and local governments, 18,211 were discovered to be ghost workers
\nand unintended
\nbeneficiaries, adding that the state will enjoy a monthly saving of 1.3
\nbillion from the exercise.<\/p>\n
Another committee was also immediately set up by Governor Bello for the
\nreview of the final report whose lethargic style of work spanned almost
\nthrough year 2016 while their feeding, hotel lodge, sitting allowances and
\neven transport bills were footed from tax payers\u2019 money. As far as this
\nstaff verification and audit is concerned, there is no end to formulation
\nand inauguration of Governor Bello\u2019s amoebic and amorphous committees as
\nhe is allegedly bent on fighting vendetta and scoring voodoo
\npolitical goals while subjecting the state\u2019s workforce to begging,
\nindebtedness and all form of in human treatments.<\/p>\n
As at the time of writing this piece, another committee was also said to
\nbe in place and were still doing almost everything claimed to have been
\ndone by the previous committees, a clear indication that there is an
\nunwavering confusion in the so-called New Direction camp and it is an
\nempirical proof that governor Bello and his handlers lack the 21st
\nCentury\u2019s initiatives needed to upgrade the workforce and place it on a
\nproductive pedestal.<\/p>\n
All over the world, it is a global standard that, staff verification and
\nauditing exercise should be able to focus on policy formation aimed at
\nimproving on the welfare and services of the workforce through diligent
\nimplementation of the recommendations of the\u00a0 said exercise provided it is
\nbeing done according to standard.
\nWhile I abhor\u00a0 the existence of the so called ghost workers system which
\nhave milked the state of its precious resources and made a few privileged
\npeople rich at the peril of the entire state, it is germane to note that,
\nstaff verification and auditing exercise should not only be narrowed down
\nto\u00a0 weeding ghost workers or even depriving genuine workers of their
\nrightful jobs, but should\u00a0 be strong and potent enough to look into the
\nspores in the civil service system, identifying the accurate number of man
\npower needed as the state\u2019s workforce and create room for employment where
\nnecessary as well as formulating sound policy for pensioners.<\/p>\n
Bello\u2019s staff verification and auditing exercise is in all standards and
\njudgments politically motivated and was never meant to better the state\u2019s
\nfortunes so that, despite the directive of the state house of Assembly to
\nsuspend the exercise while asking member of the panel to appear before it,
\nbut for the reign of executive impunity, Governor Bello never gave a dime.<\/p>\n
The exercise under reveal, has revealed Bello\u2019s desperation to superglue
\nhimself to the golden seat in the Luggard House as the people he has been
\nappointing so far were believed to be his future machineries to facilitate
\nhis evil bids come 2019. Otherwise, how could a small state like Kogi
\nundertake staff verification exercise for almost one and half year while
\nthe federal government and other states only used a few weeks to conclude
\nthe same exercise and have a perfect outcome? So long as the exercise
\ncontinues, those who are feeding fat on it will continue to enjoy even
\nthough the people are crying. That is what you will get when some members
\nof the committee always smile home with 100, 000k per sitting beside other
\nbenefits.<\/p>\n
Governor Bello should explain to Kogites why Some persons especially from
\nthe core northern states were imported into the state and imposed on
\nKogites to embark on the exercise that have subjected the people to this
\nhellish situation. It is a known fact that, some individuals from northern
\nstates like Zamfara, Bauchi and core northern regions are actively
\ninvolved in the screening and they have been lodging in Riverton hotel
\nright from the inception of the screening exercise till date even at\u00a0 the
\nexpense of Kogi state tax payers. while diverting the state\u2019s resources.<\/p>\n
This is when the genuine citizens are hungry and the genuine workers in
\nthe state have been denied of wages for over ten months but people from
\nother states who were imported into the state are eating Queen\u2019s food
\ndaily while bonfide Kogites are languishing in hunger despite the bailout
\nfunds which the government claimed it received. No doubt, Governor Bello
\nis anti-people governor and has no single welfare policy for the people he
\nclaimed to lead.<\/p>\n
Several people have lost their lives because of suffering emanating from
\nunpaid salaries while many died on transit for the endless screening some
\nothers suffered robbery with their original certificates confiscated and
\nburnt. Some people have been kidnapped and in most cases, kidnappers
\ndemanded for just for 20k.<\/p>\n
Little wonders, the rate of kidnapping is ever increasing in the state to
\nthe point that, even commuters\u2019 lives are no longer safe while commuting
\nthe state. About six commuters were kidnapped a few days ago in Okene
\nwhile transiting from Onitsha to Abuja. Despite this, the Governor still
\nhave the effrontery to arrange for a national award as the best Governor
\nin Security related matters.<\/p>\n
Governor Bello should tell Kogites why crime rate has astronomically
\nincreased within his few months in the office because, since he does not
\nhave good policy on ground for job creation, he should stop sacking people
\nand emptying them of their livelihood. When youth are left idle, evil and
\nsatanic ideology could easily be implanted into them.<\/p>\n
Many professors of good standing lecturing at the state\u2019s owned university
\nincluding a former rector of Kogi Polytechnic, were falsely sacked by
\nBello\u2019s screening panel and\u00a0 declared ghost workers while some other staff
\ntotaling Over 623\u00a0 of Kogi state university were declared ghost workers,
\nmaking most qualified staff of the school to work their ways to other
\nschools void of hostile working environment.<\/p>\n
This is even when there is no governing Council in all higher institutions
\nin the state since Bello assumed office which is contrary to the rule of
\nNUC and NBTE. Over 200 workers of Kogi Poly were also declared as ghost
\nworkers. Under Bello, the confluence state has become the confluence of
\nghost workers.<\/p>\n
It therefore behooves on the people of Kogi state to demand total end to
\nthis callous and endless staff screening and verification exercise
\nespecially the civil right movement should wake up to this challenge, and
\nKogites should ensure\u00a0 reawakening of investigative journalism in the
\nstate\u00a0 to enable Bello and his co-travelers know that, indeed sovereignty
\nbelongs to the people.<\/p>\n
Senator Dino Melaye, is the senator representing the good people of Kogi
\nWest Senatorial District.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n