The immediate past Mopamuro Local Government Branch Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees, Comrade Samson Ayeni has hailed the Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello for coming to the rescue of the State through the “timely staff verification exercise”.
Briefing newsmen in Mopa on Sunday, Comrade Ayeni said it took a strong will to make a success of the exercise.
“Sometimes ago, the late Elder J. K. Obaro was commissioned to help ascertain the actual number of Staff in Mopamuro Local Government Area. Revelations were discovered but there was no political will to execute the report to the fullest .
“The recent staff verification exercise in the State will go down in history as the best and most effective approach at ensuring that ghost workers have no place in our system anymore.
“The exercise has taught us a number of lessons. One, we have a Governor that is committed and courageous to effect change. Two, the Governor has great men of integrity in his Economic Team. Okutimo was doing a great job before labour piled pressure on the Governor to change him. That is immaterial now. We have had a successful exercise with the help of Okala and Ododo”.
Comrade Ayeni urged Kogi people to continue to pray for the Governor in his drive to fix Kogi State and make it a giant among other states.
“Many people do not understand the enormity of what the Governor has been able to achieve. Without properly profiting the actual number of workers working in Kogi and for Kogi, no government will be able to provide for the need of the people.
“Let us continue to pray for the Governor. He is up against forces that have been benefiting from the rot of the past. I am sure the workers are behind his successful screening exercise because that is the surest way to ensure payment of salaries regularly”.
He urged the Governor to make the staff verification exercise a continuous process in order to flush out all the ghost workers on the payrolls of government.
