Ondo govt stops salaries of 51 ghost workers

Ondo State government on Monday revealed that it has stopped the salaries of about 51 workers who failed to show up for the last screening and verification exercise conducted on its workforce in the state.

The State Head of Service, Mr Dare Aragbaiye, who made this disclosure during a press conference to herald the celebration of 2019 Public Service week in Akure, Ondo State capital, described the development as alarming.

He, however, disclosed that the State government had stopped the payment of salaries of the 51 affected workers discovered during the verification exercise.

Aragbaiye explained that the exercise was carried out by the state government to uncover ghost workers in the system and to ensure their removal from the payroll of the state.

He said: “A lot of discoveries were made during the exercise. The syndrome is for people to travel out of the country and still being paid salary without working.

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“About 51 workers did not turn up for the verification exercise and to us, that was alarming enough, even after several extension, they did not turn up.”

He noted that despite non-recruitment into the state civil service in the past few the wage bill is not going down but said: “We are conscious of the fact that if people are retiring, it should have impact on our wage bill, even though our pension is also increasing but government is on top of the situation.”

Speaking on the public Service Week, the HoS said the focus of the celebration is to acknowledge and commemorate the prime place of the public service in the development of African states.

He disclosed that the two-day event would witness the launch of a new reform initiative which will provide the direction of the state bureaucracy and also reposition it for better service delivery.

He said a package of the new initiative has been put together and has received the blessing of the Chief Executive. The reform package which is christened Ondo State Improvement Programme (ODSIP) will become our catechism, henceforth.

“It is designed to address most of the dysfunctions currently plaguing the bureaucracy of the state and sets the tone for a better service.”

He commended the state governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, for giving priority to the welfare of the workers to ensure optimum service delivery.

He said the present government in the state has been able to pay six out of the seven months unpaid salaries inherited from the past administration within a space of two years, while workers promotions had not been delayed.