Kogi state civil servants deserve their salaries. Every worker whom has exchanged labour as service(s) rendered deserves his wage-entitlement as part of economic contract. The social contract between the masses and her Government also revolves around provision of social utilities, which salary payment of her administrative hands in safeguarding the state lies in the hands of the civil service, consequently, their services are to be maintained by reward of salaries. Salary payment is a sacrosanct venture. It is non-negotiable. It catapults me into empathising the pitiable state of Kogi state workers who are still owed by the state and local governments in divergent months.
The screening exercise is a contributive factor to the incessant strikes in Kogi state. It is not only about the government’s inability to pay the civil servants. Logically, the inability of the government to pay workers also has to do with the “number” of workers to be paid, vis-à-vis monthly allocation and internally generated revenue.
Governor Bello
The current Governor of Kogi state, amidst the enormous controversies tinkering with his image is a rare breed. His class of decision making is astute. To embark on worker’s screening or verification exercise in Nigeria, by a Governor seeking re-election into office is the biggest political gamble anyone could take. It is a parch of trouble that could pitch someone with a meek character as a pariah to his own people due to the complexities of civil service payroll.
The saturation of ghost workers on the payroll is a direct kickback for most politicians. They create a siphoning funnel through ghost workers to grey investigation after they leave office. It has always been the routine. Embarking on a workers verification exercise is tantamount to waking dead men from 18th century. The civil service is a cesspool of unholy corruption and moral dilapidation perennially buried in wickedness, short-sight of futuristic conscience.
Consequently, touching this is like touching a beehive of sleeping bees. They would sudden-wake, sudden-bite and sudden-sting you until death. The countless local government chairmen, Treasurers, etc, are adept in recruiting their own family members and friends on election into offices. Even interim administrators also saturate government payroll with more workers in the face of allocation that is stunted. Some royal families, thugs, diasporan voices, students who have no offices and a hue of others find habitation on the payroll. We now face of problem of growing civil service strength that adds no value, without a corresponding growth in Federal or state allocation to service the payroll- it becomes a problem for the state governors. They’ll have to face the blackmail of not been relected into office by the civil-service-establishment who are also astute at helping the process sustain manipulation. They would hold you at the jugular. It is either Governor Bello didn’t factor all these things into consideration as it is clearly playing out now, or he was clearly naïve or perhaps, he knew and decided to wager. It could be the triage of this, however, his courage to embark on the screening as against his re-election prospects gives some of us brain-orgasms.
He is courageous. That was selfless.
Kogi’s Population and Wage Bill
Kano State has a population of 12,591, 871 (approximately 12.6M) people, divided across 44 local Government areas. Kaduna state has approximately 8m people, divided across 23, local government areas, with confluence of Nigeria, Kogi State peopling 4,324,074 (approximately 4.4m) persons, divided across 21 local government areas.
Kano State and Kaduna enjoys more allocation from the Federal purse with averages of 8-12BN monthly, while Kogi State which enjoyed her highest allocation between 2003-2016, apexed between 6-7BN on a large-share-month, with the lowest coming penultimate to 2015/16 Governorship elections dwindling between 2.5-3.5 BN at the last quarter of Governor Idris Wada’s tenor.
We heard different figures of the government wagebill, the civil service strength has also been pronounced to be 125,000 in kogi state at some point. They seldom know the real workers strength as the list keeps growing from the local and state level, it is a potpourri of that kind of confusion.
In 2015, the civil service strength stood at about 24,000, while towards governor Wada’s departure in 2016, it rose by another 9,000 according to estimated figures. It was a jamboree of civil service jobs in the face of dwindling FAAC allocation. In servicing the huge payroll, the former Governor, Idris Wada could not pay salaries as he would wait for two allocations to pay one month salaries, on some occasions, percentage salaries were paid. Amongst this civil service figures and prebendal ghost workers, family members of government appointees, non-indigenes, duplication of employment on Local Government payroll and State government payroll, absence from duty without approval, etc. It was a melee of illegality. It would agglutinate to a mad-cow confusion in the belt of 2015. We would not visit his predecessor, Ibrahim Idris’ tenor, as even if he grew the wagebill by another halve, the pour of allocation into the state as a result of the rise in the crude prices would make him afford paying all Kogites and still have a balance to loot. If he wanted to loot. Read the last statement again.
The crux of this population in contrast to Kano and Kaduna is that, Kogi with a population of 4.4m has a higher civil service wage bill than that of Kano state with 44 local government areas and monthly FAAC that triples that of Kogi state. It is an embarrassing outfit. It is unfortunate. Mediocrity is the oil that furs the people into suspending the private sector adjunct of the economy to face the civil service which is a salaried-consumption-enterprise. A reasonable Governor would attempt diversification while reducing the civil service.
It is known world over, aside the “genuineness” which is just a legal validation of employment, workers are supposed to be engaged due to “needs assessment” which assigns them a clear function. How many of the genuine workers even have job descriptions that amounts to value addition?
The problem confronting us is bigger than Yahaya Bello, it is either we fix it now or have another Governor that would avoid it, manage the mediocrity, steal the one he can scoop while the vicious oscillation goes at a constant.
The Workers Screening
Independent investigation shows that the kogi state workers screening which took a long run was fraught with a diversity of wickedness from most groups involved. From the appointment of the first Chairman of the screening who was accused of partiality in expunging ghost workers/genuine workers from other local government areas while leaving those from his own region, to the inhuman wickedness of some of the staff who conducted the screening:
We should all bear in mind that Governor Yahaya Bello met all those people whom he used to conduct the screening exercise. It would appear that he was also misled on the true state of the civil service strength.
Do you know that greed prolonged the mismanagement and elongation of the screening? A case exemplar is for those who turned the wails of their fellow civil servants into a business opportunity. Investigation reveals that the daily allowance for those who conducted the screening ranged from 10,000 -15,000. In ten days, some persons would have made their salaries, consequently, they deliberately complacent the process by feet-dragging to open more days into the screening in order to earn more money.
Some civil servants also turned the exercise into a witch-hunting opportunity to victimise their colleagues whom they find as a threat, or outrightly out of hate.
The main parameter outcome for the screening at inception was between “cleared and uncleared”. It was easy to mark anybody as uncleared as the parameters for doing so was largely based on individual discretion or hate.
Personal judgement were also imported into the exercise. Some of the verifying officers made on the stop decisions on “age conflict” in documents, which isn’t really a major factor the screening attempted to checkmate. They faulted many old citizens who are pensioners on those grounds. It was judgemental incompetence.
They were also instances of accusations of some verification officers, been bribed to expunge names of genuine workers while leaving the chains of ghost accounts controlled by some politicians.
These are human element factors which cannot be eliminated, except through technology. This is why the Clock Timing System becomes relevant.
However, we still argue that the bulk lies on the pen of the Governor, but even at that, ruminate on some of these facts:
· The verification exercise was not conducted by Governor Yahaya Bello himself. He assigned it to a team. The team are members of the indigenes of Kogi State.
· The screening exercise was done by a ratified pool of the same civil servants with other people
· Labour union members were also amongst those who conducted the screening.
· Saboteurs are member elements of every institution
· Human error and feelings are never eliminated from such things
· Widespread corruption and protection of personal interests.
Solutions
It is very difficult to provide rational solutions in an environment like our which people live on personal interests and sentiments. It is better to have a quality workforce which you can pay regularly than to have a quantity workforce which you cannot pay. It is my opinion that since he has taken the courageous step to start the verification exercise, as that is the biggest scandal of his administration, he should continue. Posterity and faint voices like mine would hold history accountable on his behalf.
The Governor should embark on a local government and state collaboration exercise to ascertain the truly needed or required workforce. While at it, workers should be retained on that basis. Ministries that are overstaffed should have some workers relaxed. The whole Kogites cannot be civil servants. The 2015-16 running into 2017 recession has taught many sane people lessons.
Employment relaxation letters should be issued to some people from now while their emoluments and outstanding be paid within a window period the Government can save to make provision for those whom are to be relaxed from service.
Options of resignation for instant monetary reward to embark on business ventures that would carry a tax rebate should also be made available, while the Agricultural sector which is a strength of Kogi state be stimulated.
The Government should also prioritise production sectors of the economy than the consumption parts.
Conclusively, the state government and her local counterpart should concentrate on biometrics capturing, while leveraging on the Clock in- Clock out electronic register currently implemented by the Government in ascertaining workers that are truly genuine and adds value to the system.
– Promise Emmanuel
Email: Prodigypromise.emmanuel@gmail.com
