An ad-hoc Committee set up by the Kogi State House of Assembly to look into the impasse between the State Judiciary and the Executive arms of government over pay parade in the state civil service has hailed the Governor Yahaya Bello-led state government for blocking leakages in the system.
Speaking during the interactive session between the committee members and members of the Pay Parade Committee, the Chairman of the House of Assembly Ad-Hoc Committee, Hon. Abdullahi Bello said the Pay Parade system will help the state to block further leakages in the system and also ascertain the actual number of civil servants in the state.
Addressing the ad-hoc committee, the Secretary to the State Government who doubles as the Pay Parade Committee Chairman, Dr. Folashade Ayoade said the executive arm of government initiated the process after it was discovered that many people still draw salaries from the state without rendering any service.
She said the state government wants peace with all tiers and arms of government.
Also speaking at the hearing, the state commissioner of finance and economic planning, Asiwaju Idris Asiru said there were three unclaimed cheques at the Parliamentary Service Commission and over 400 unclaimed cheques at the MDAs, arguing that the process will save the state millions of Naira hitherto taken by unintended beneficiaries.
It would be recalled that Judiciary workers in the state had declared an indefinite strike to protest the Pay Parade Process.
Mallam Abdulqadri Isah, a civil servant in the state, told our correspondent that the Pay Parade is the master stroke that broke the salary payment jinx in the state.
He stated that the noise about non-payment of salaries has completely reduced in the state following the exercise.
“The opposition in the state who have been hiding behind the alleged non-payment of salaries have been thrown into confusion following the celebration of Kogi state civil servants on the salary rains,” he said.
