BEING TEXT OF AN ADDRESS BY THE GOVERNOR OF KOGI STATE, HIS EXCELLENCY ALHAJI YAHAYA BELLO AT THE PUBLIC PRESENTATION OF THE REPORT OF THE CIVIL SERVICE SCREENING EXERCISE IN KOGI STATE
I welcome everyone who could join us today as we formally present report of our Civil Service Screening Exercise to the public. This public presentation was considered necessary so our people can see firsthand why we insisted on this Exercise despite the inconveniences to everyone and in spite of the vicious opposition from those who benefitted from the former laxities in the system and felt threatened by the likely outcomes.
I am sure that after the disclosures by the earlier presenters today any objective person must by now agree with us that the Exercise was a vital necessity. The leaders of the Screening and Audit Teams have done a great job of detailing their methodologies, discoveries and recommended solutions to us. I will therefore limit myself to itemizing some of my own insights into the subject after which I will summarize and we can call it a day.
Here are my contributions:
1. The Civil Service was excessively heavy on our resources. From the records, the Kogi State Civil Service was bloated and constituted a major conduit through which Kogi’s resources were being systematically siphoned away. Numerically, it is made up of just about 70,000 people altogether. This number is less than 2% of our 3.5 million citizens yet it demanded more than 100% of our share of Federal Allocations each month. This was both disproportionate and unsustainable, and the choice before us was clear – reform the Service or let it continue to deform our socioeconomic indices and distort our growth projections.
2. The Screening Exercise was not an afterthought. I did not run for Governorship of Kogi State on a whim. Previous Administrations had abandoned good governance and basically plundered the state. The plight of the State moved me to join the race for Governor and I prepared extensively to change the situation for the best if I got the chance. I determined to put a stop to all criminal conduct against this state and her people. Comprehensive Civil Service and Pension reforms were a key objective of my campaign. When I assumed Office, I embedded it as a cardinal thematic area in my New Direction Agenda and Blueprint.
3. Salaries and Pensions of Genuine Workers are not the Problem. The State, at least under my Administration, will continue to make strong, even superhuman, efforts to pay full wages on schedule to all genuine workers provided they do full work. However, we noticed quantum and inexplicable leaps in the size of the Wage Bill without documented promotions of genuine workers or fresh recruitments in a justifiable process. This Exercise is our way of saying we are not ready to continue resourcing criminality and financing theft. We are putting a permanent end to the ghost-workers phenomenon and non-resident, non-identifiable ‘workers’ syndrome.
4. Organized Labour was the dominant stakeholder throughout the Screening Exercise. My Administration recognized that involvement of Organized Labour in Kogi State was pivotal to the long-term success of the Screening Exercise. Their partnership was invaluable to its credibility, and therefore acceptance. We took key steps to carry them along as follows:
A. We were careful to make sure nominees of the Kogi State Chapters of the Nigerian Labour Congress and the Trade Unions Congress among Labour representatives constituted over 50% of the membership of the Screening Committee.
B. Labour was given frontline roles in the fieldwork which generated the primary data we used to achieve the final outcomes.
C. Every time we reached a crossroad with Labour we looked dispassionately at the contentious issues and if the compromise required is not a threshold one likely to endanger the integrity of the whole exercise, we allowed Labour have their way.
D. We listened when they they brought complaints against the leadership of the Committee during collation stage. After looking into their concerns we replaced the pioneer Chairman with a person of their choice.
E. When they kicked against the use of only two banks for the verification of genuine workers and concurrent disbursement of the bail-out funds, we listened then explained the rationale and asked them to provide us a viable alternative in the circumstances that provided the required results. When they were not forthcoming we had to proceed with that template as the only available and viable one.
F. We are still puzzled at the troubles that ensued later, especially the calls for a general strike by Labour leaders. However, that has been largely resolved, and all’s well that ends well.
5. Appeals on the Screening Exercise are Invited. Following complaints of errors committed by the main Screening Committee, we set up a Back-up Review Committee to look into genuine complaints by ANY affected worker and ensure all injustices are redressed. This second Committee is jointly overseen by the Kogi State Auditor-General and the Auditor for Local Governments who I have vested with sufficient powers and discretion to be effective. It is my aim, and I have given directives to that effect, that no genuine worker will lose their livelihood due to this Exercise. Anyone with genuine complaints should channel them immediately.
6. Vigilance is the Eternal Price of Liberty. In addition to their duty above, the Back-up Review Committee will continue to conduct ongoing Review of the Kogi State Workforce and monitor the Wage Bill of the State to prevent the ghosts we have exorcised today, or new ones, from possessing the system again. The discovery and elimination of thousands of ghost workers on our Wage Bill, the successful termination of dozens of large-scale fraudulent schemes and the elimination of astounding systemic leakages will mean nothing if we allow them to just sprout again. We will not.
7. We were right to conduct the Screening Exercise. The earlier presentations today show how immensely successful the exercise has been. They also justify our decision to undertake it in the first place. In my opinion, the Screening Exercise was urgently needed and I deem it as important to Kogi State as emergency surgery is to a patient with a spreading, malignant cancer. We must in the same fashion cut out the twin cancers of corruption and financial crimes from our Civil Service before they spread any further.
In conclusion, I want to cite something I said in my Inaugural Address:
‘To reinforce our commitment to accountability, the incoming Administration will employ technology and a multilayered system of checks and balances to block all leakages in our financial processes and improve our wealth creation and retention capacities…we will run this Blueprint along with Civil Service reforms to change the orientation of our workers and improve their productivity.’
The Screening Exercise is therefore the first layer of civil service reforms which this Administration intends to deploy during her tenure. We will now move on to capacity building, incentivized productivity and personal accountability. By the grace of God, Kogi State has entered an era of wealth creation and retention. Government is working hard and increasingly partnering with the private sector to drive economic growth. Our Civil Service must be repositioned to play her roles of facilitator in the process. We cannot compromise that.
Thank you once more for coming.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
God bless Kogi State.
God bless you.
His Excellency
Governor Yahaya Bello
Executive Governor of Kogi State
Government House Complex
Lokoja, Kogi State.
July 25, 2016.
