We will purge the CS/LG until payroll fraud is outlawed ― Dickson

Worried over bloated wage bill impeding development of other critical sector of the economy, Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State has said his government would stop at nothing until perpetrators of payroll fraud in the state civil and local government service is contained and shown the way out of service.

This, the Governor said when he received the Judicial Commission of Inquiry on pay roll fraud in the state capital, Yenagoa.

Peeved by the staggering revelation by the commission that government loss N2.6BN yearly to persons whose employment are not authorized in the eight local government areas and the 32 rural development centres, Dickson urged the commission to forward the names of the racketeers
and culprit to face the full wrath of the law.

“None would be spared, not minding their position or statue, affinity of political cleavages, but all culprits must face the wrath of the law” the Governor submitted.

He lauded the commission led by Hon. Justice Doris Adokeme for their findings and called for a holistic implementation of the recommendations of the Commission, stressing that, it is the only way to curb the activities of pay roll fraudsters and reduce the wage bill.

Dickson described the issue of pay roll fraud as pathetic, averred that the discovery of 6,280 unauthorized employments at the eight constitutionally recognized local government areas and the thirty-two Rural Development Authorities, amounting to an annual loss of N2.61billion, could not be unconnected to fund other recurring expenditures in the state.

The commission, it was gathered discovered 3,243 unauthorized employees at the Rural Development Authorities and 3,037 at the eight constitutionally recognized Local Government Areas of the State.

The finding revealed the over bloated wage bill at the third tier of the government was as a result of illegal transfer of service, substitution of names of retirees, illegal substitution of names of
dead employees and back dating of appointment.

According to the Governor, the era of free money is gone, no more sharing of allocation on frivolities; we cannot sacrifice governance on the altar of political patronage.
Dickson, however, directed the commission to beam its searchlight on the education sector, describing it as another critical sector that is giving the administration sleepless nights.

The governor said his administration is waiting to receive other volumes of the reports, especially reports on the main stream civil service.

To this end, Dickson noted that a committee would be inaugurated to carry out the re-organization in the Ministry of Environment, identified as another conduit where government fund is frittered into pockets of payroll fraud cabal, and announced the commencement of the
employment of sanitary inspectors