Kogi State Head of Service, Deaconesses Deborah Ogunmola
has alleged that over 300 uncleared staff of Kogi State civil servant made their way back to the payroll of the state civil service through the help of top civil servants.
She disclosed this while addressing permanent secretaries and some Directors of Administration and Finance (DAF) at the state secretariat in Lokoja.
According to her such was possible with the help of some top civil servants stressing that these ghost workers are staff who were not cleared during the last staff screening and verification exercise in the state.
While appealing against acts that could undermine efforts made by the present administration to clean up the payroll and restore the integrity of the civil service, she described the present reform of the service as the most thorough and result driven in the history of the state.
She allayed the fears of those who have been cleared but are yet to be returned to the payroll, assuring that the report was ready and awaiting approval by the Governor, which she revealed would happen anytime soon.
On the pay parade conducted in 2018, the head of service lamented that despite strenuous measures taken to avoid loopholes in the exercise ghost names, even of deceased civil servants kept appearing on the payroll and alleged complicity by civil servants.
She cited a case of a woman who retired in 2016 and was discovered to be drawing salaries and pension at the same time, and urged for increased vigilance on the part of the permanent secretaries and directors of administration and finance.
It will be recalled that in an effort to weed away ghost workers from the state civil service, the state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello constituted a screening committee to screened workers both at the state and local government councils level in order to know the number of actually and genuine workers in the state.
