Benue State Government will conduct it’s second screening in the space of one year, to ascertain the actual number of civil servants in the state.
 |
| gov. ortom |
This was disclosed by the benue state Governor, Samuel Ortom yesterday when he featured on a special edition of the Radio Benue audience participatory programme, “Issues of the Moment.”
Governor Ortom stated that his administration would conduct a fresh screening of civil servants in the State to ascertain its exact workforce and wage bill.
He explained that the exercise had become imperative due to the fact that even after the last exercise, the wage bill was still very high instead of reducing.
The Governor lamented the continuous surge in the wage bill inspite of the retirement of some workers from service at regular intervals both at the state and local government levels.
Governor Ortom who said he suspected foul play by some of the officials contracted to carry out the last staff audit noted that inspite of that audit, the wage bill at both the state and local government surprisingly still stands at over N7 billion.
He cited the case where a staff on grade level 09 was collecting over N300,000.00 monthly from the government and blamed the fraudulent act on connivance by those in the system.
Governor Ortom emphasized that during the next staff audit, the Bank Verification Number, BVN, approach which had worked successfully elsewhere would be adopted in addition to physical head count or table payment if it became necessary.
He said government would not renege on its promise to cut the cost of governance to enable it meet its obligations and called on the people to be on the alert as whistle blowers to help the administration tame corruption.
COMMENTS