Ongoing public service reforms in Bayelsa to check payroll fraud- Commissioner

The Baylesa government on Monday said the ongoing public service reforms in the state was to completely eliminate endemic employment racketeering and pay roll fraud in its public sector.

The state Commissioner for Local Government Administration, Dr Agatha Goma, said this when he paid an unscheduled visits to venues for staff identification and assessment of local government workers, including primary teachers and non-teaching staff.

While expressing satisfaction over the pace of the exercise, Goma noted that the scheme was aimed at eliminating endemic employment racketeering and pay roll fraud among other vises in the public sector.





She said that these age-long negative vices, were drains in the state government finances of resources meant for development of the state.

Goma added that the exercise was not to witch-hunt anyone, but to ensure that only genuine workers received their salaries as at when due, while the funds hitherto spent on ghost workers would be channeled to motivate the workforce.

The commissioner commended Gov. Seriake Dickson for his commitment to seeing the local government reforms to its logical conclusion.

Goma, who observed that previous staff verification, resulted in marginal reduction in the wage bill, assured workers that the reform had reached advanced stages of implementation and that the results would soon be made public.

She also applauded the Deputy- Gov Rear Admiral John Jonah-led reform committee, saying that his diligent approach and efforts at promoting probity, transparency and accountability at the councils was exemplary.

The Commissioner applauded the understanding and cooperation of the labour unions; namely National Union of Local Governmet Employees and Nigeria Union of Teachers’s support for the reform.
Goma said such snergy and patriotic disposition of the unions for government’s reform, “will not only engender industrial harmony at the councils but also serve as catalyst for development at the grassroot.”

The assessment tour took Goma and her team to Kolokuma/Opokuma, Yenagoa and Nembe Local Government Areas.

Goma was recieved at Kaiama, Kolokuma/Opokuma headquarter, by Mr Wisdom Fafi, the local government caretaker committee chairman.

Fafi, who is also state ALGON Chairman, commended the state government for its political will and unflinching commitment to the successful implementation of the local government reforms

Fafi disclosed that the staff identification and assessment exercise had been smooth in the Council.

He added that the successful implementation of the exercise would empower the council to pay staff regularly and invest more on developmental projects at the grassroots.

At Nembe, the Head of the Staff Identification Committee for the Council, Mr Ere Efeke said that his team worked beyond hours to ensure that every worker that showed up for the exercise was assessed.

Efeke assured the state government that at the end of the exercise government would have a reliable data on staff nominal roll.

The Commissioner was accompanied on the tour by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government Administration, Mr Tonye Opuike and his counterpart in the Ministry of Lands and Survey, Mr. Moses Teibowei.