The Kogi State governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, on Monday said the state government had paid 95 per cent of workers on its payroll, spending over N41 billion on salaries.
The governor however lauded the workers for their patience saying the bad days are over and better days for salary payment in the state has come.
The governor who stated this in Lokoja, the state capital, also promised that workers in the state would soon be receiving their salary before the end of each month as the reconciliation of the staff screening exercise is almost concluded.
Bello said after reconciliation of the last screening exercise, the state government would start a weekly review of civil service reform and salary payment in the state, urging the civil servants to keep faith with him as the civil service reform had started yielding positive result.
The governor said his decision to publish details of salaries paid to each public servant since the inception of his administration on January 27, 2016, was to exhibit his respect for the workers and deep interest to sanitise the civil service.
Bello added that the move was also meant to debunk the falsehood of nonpayment of salaries being peddled against his administration in the state.
The governor said, “We are not owing workers who have been verified to be genuine and consequently cleared. Our aim was to weed out fraudulent beneficiaries of the ghost workers syndrome. We have cut them off from the system.
“We are at the process of reconciling the report of the appeal committee. After that is done, it is a promise that salary will be paid before the end of every month to genuine workers. Those we are owing now are those who are yet to scale the hurdle of appeals whose cases are been reconciled. Efforts are in top gear to pay those who have been cleared.
“We have given our reports to the public. We have paid 95 percent of our workers and expended over 41 billion naira on salaries between January 2016 and March 2017. We have published all our payments to civil servants on our website, Kogistate.gov.ng. We won’t be bothered by blackmail because we know where they are coming from.”
The governor said the civil service reforms in the state has started yielding positive result which is to the benefits of the people, the civil servants and the government.
“We are looking beyond the screening exercise. We are looking at a holistic reform of the civil service to ensure efficiency. Database will be built to guide against the poor documentation in the service. The clock-in and clock-out system will be installed to ensure those who are paid to do government jobs actually do the jobs for which they are paid. Kogi State will be better after this exercise.”