Connect with us

Metro

Bayelsa bursts payroll scam, wage bill drops by N3.9bn annually

Published

on

Bayelsa bursts payroll scam, wage bill drops by N3.9bn annually

Bayelsa State Government on Thursday said that it had prevented the payment of huge amounts of money to payroll fraudsters in its local government councils totaling N3.912 bn annually as a fall out of the ongoing public sector reforms in the state.

Speaking during a press conference, the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Daniel Iworiso-Markson said the chairmen of the eight local government areas said that they were able to reduce an annual payment of N3.912 billion in salaries to the payroll fraudsters in the state from 2016 as a result of the reforms.

In their presentations, the various Local Government Council Chairmen stressed that there has been a drastic reduction in the wage bills of the councils since the commencement of implementation of the ongoing reforms in the state.

Read also: 22-yr-old man nabbed for defiling 12-yr-old boy

Presenting what they call, ‘facts and figures’ on workers wage bill from 2016 till date, Southern Ijaw had its wage bill reduced to N201 million as against N131 million, Ogbia (N207 million-N165), Nembe (N127 million-N99 million) and Brass (N119-N101 million).

Others were, Ekeremor (N192 million-N177 million), Kolokuma/Opokuma (N109million-N77million), Sagbama (N171 million-N130 million) and Yenagoa (N194million-N147 million).

A look at the difference in the figures showed a reduction in the amount erstwhile paid as salaries to teachers and workers of the council by N3.9bn.

Speaking also during the briefing on the progress of the current reforms in the public service, Iworiso- Markson, decried the magnitude of fraud perpetrated by fraudsters in the sector.

In attendance were, the Commissioner for Labour, Employment and Productivity, Chief Collins Cocodia, his Health counterpart, Prof. Ebitimitula Etebu, Local Government Council Chairmen and the Special Adviser on Treasury, Revenue and Accounts, Mr. Timipre Seipulo.

Iworiso-Markson also described the 70% non-academic staff in the primary schools as unacceptable and stressed that an arrangement where only 30 percent of an institution were academic staff could not be productive.

The Commissioner stated further that the Governor Seriake Dickson-led administration inherited N1.3 billion local government teachers monthly wage bill, which has been reduced to about N1.027 billion in the last 2 years.

The Government’s Spokesman noted that progress had been achieved in the implementation of the ongoing reforms without which, the local government system would have experienced total collapse.

Iworiso-Markson who also briefed newsmen on the outcome of the 94th State Executive Council meeting, said henceforth, local government councils would make contributions to the State Education Development Trust Fund.

He added that the Council decided that the third tier of government would be responsible for the training of Primary Health Care workers, stressing that, chairmen were mandated to retain the number of staff they can pay.

 

RipplesNigeria… without borders, without fears

Click here to join the Ripples Nigeria WhatsApp group for latest updates.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now