The Registrar of the Kogi State College of Education issued 200 letters of employment on the eve of the commencement of an audit, the state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, has revealed.
Bello, who stated this in Abuja during the christening of his new born baby on Saturday, noted that the action was one of the crimes in the civil service in the state.
The registrar, the governor said, issued the letters to cover up his “shady deals” following the audit he ordered in the state civil service.
He said, “At the Kogi State College of Education (Technical), Kabba, we have barely 300 students, and over 500 non-teaching staff.
“The issue of screening that is ongoing is very important. When we came on board the wage bill was N3bn and with staff strength of over 39,000.
“When you move round the state, where are the offices, where are the schools and where are the hospitals? We are also aware that since 2011 there has not been any advertisement for recruitment of workers, so how can we be having this heavy wage bill monthly?”
The governor, who said the monthly federal allocation to the state had dwindled to between N2bn and N2.2bn, added that its internally generated revenue hovered between N400m and N500m monthly.
He also noted that his administration uncovered another fraud where a worker earned salaries in four different offices while another took salaries of over 40 persons.
The governor, who said he would not be blamed for the inability to pay local government workers 100 per cent of their salaries, noted that he had granted the councils financial autonomy.
He added, “I gave full autonomy to the local government on assumption of office so that they can have full autonomy financially but we will superintend over the generation of those funds and other activities.
“Some of the local government salaries are bloated. If the wage bill is N120m and N85m accrues to the local government, how would you be able to pay 100 per cent? That is the essence of the screening.”
Credit: Punch
