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With a monthly wage bill well in excess of 3 billion naira, and total monthly revenue comprising federal allocation and internally generated revenue that would occasionally manage to hit 2.7 billion naira on a particularly good month, it was a politically and ethnically divided state with huge infrastructural deficit and very lopsided finances that Governor Yahaya Adoza Bello inherited in January last year.
This extraordinary state of affairs put the incoming governor in between a rock and a hard place, but he wasted little time in setting up a Staff Verification Exercise Committee. This committee was tasked with helping to plug the leakages in the system by sanitising government payroll and pruning the state’s civil service, ridding it of ghost workers, redundancies, ineligibles, and names that should generally not be on it.
Granted that with the exercise marking its first year today, it has no doubt taken longer than was originally envisaged. However, the groundswell of resistance towards the idea of staff verification was so intense and so rancorous right from the onset, one cannot in all honesty overlook the fact that many of these voices are sponsored by our detractors and people who desire not the progress of the state nor the welfare of its citizens. This is not to discountenance the concerns of genuinely aggrieved workers who have been affected by the exercise.
Findings of the committee so far have revealed how massive the drain on the state’s scarce finances have been. At this point, the exercise now saves the state billions of naira, with as many as 8,879 ghost workers flagged on the payroll. These numbers ensure the state’s books are firmly in the red even before anything gets done. We are saying, even if all that was expected of government was to sign off on monthly payroll, Kogi’s federal allocation plus IGR would require significant subvention for salaries alone to be sorted out.
This level of sleaze is what some fellow Kogites had gotten used to over time and under previous administrations, and it goes to explain the absolute lack of infrastructure in the state, even as public debts and obligations kept mounting. And here was this young governor attempting to expose all of that monthly ritual, and put an end to it. No one expected the payroll cabal would go down without a fight, so we were prepared for them from the get go.
Like has already been noted, government regrets the hiccups the exercise has endured so far. Valid concerns were raised by Labour about the original committee tasked with this assignment. Unfortunately, mistakes were made in the process of trying to make the process more transparent and inclusive. But rather than churn out a shoddy job, Governor Bello would rather a thorough job is done that will stand the test of time, and also offer a veritable platform to build upon.
At the last count, 88,973 individuals have been screened at state and local government level, with an appeal panel set up to address valid complaints from those who were not cleared. Gradually, we are making progress. It may be slow and painstaking, but the outcome will be fair to all concerned. While at it, government continues to ensure payment of entitlements to its bonafide workers.
Equally significant is the pace of infrastructural development ongoing in countless parts of the state. As government plugs drains in the system, it is also working hard at expanding its revenue base. The significant savings arising from the painful but necessary payroll reforms, plus government earnings from other sources are all coming together to help transform the state into one big construction site, and for the benefit of all Kogites.
Staff verification is known to have taken much longer elsewhere, but there seems to be something about Yahaya Bello’s Kogi that gets people talking all the time, even when the chatter is unwarranted. The governor’s determination to be thorough about the exercise, rather than pay mere lip service to it and achieve little or nothing in the end, sets him apart from the others. His mantra is that, whatever happens, no genuine worker will be sacked. And God willing, the outcome of the exercise will endure integrity tests. And this is why an Appeal Panel was set to ensure that every worker who has not been cleared is given a final opportunity to do so. What’s more, the Appeal Panel has been charged to let the work they do be guided by the principles of fairness, transparency and justice. Again, let me echo His Excellency’s commitment to ensuring all genuine workers and pensioners get their legitimate due.
To ensure proper deterrent is set, and in order to avoid a slide back to our former ways anytime soon, the governor intends to make examples of some senior civil servants under whose watch the state’s finances were so pillaged. Permanent secretaries, directors, treasurers and other key personnel will be made to account for expended funds that passed through them. As a result, accountability must be the watchword going forward.
As always, government craves the indulgence of Kogites and seeks their usual understanding. Having come this far, the end of this difficult exercise is already in sight. By end of March, we would be completely done with this phase of the civil service reforms. As funds get freed up from the clutches of those who have intercepted them all these years, they will be made readily available to genuine, hardworking and deserving staff who have worked and earned their wages. Soon, the era of delayed salaries will be long-forgotten. Additionally, civil servants would be equipped with resources, including trainings, they would require to add value to the system and ensure we have an efficient and effective civil service which is merit driven and sustained. As cliche as it may sound, the entrenched rot took years to take root and bear fruits. One year is a long time but not too long to displace a monster which had grown really powerful enough to threaten the existence of the State. March is here, this phase shall be over and the civil service structure we help build today will ensure the state’s workforce is not taken for a ride again.
– Petra Akinti Onyegbule is the Chief Press Secretary to Kogi State Governor.
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