Abia govt to remove unverified civil servants from state payroll

From Peter Okore, Umuahia

The Abia state Commissioner for Information and Culture, Prince Okey Kanu has made it clear that any state serving and retired civil servant who has not been captured in the on-going verification exercise, by the end of November, 2023, will have his/her name removed from the list of the state workforce.

This is also as the state government would launch a “Whistle-blower” policy in Abia in efforts to make sure that things are done differently in the re-built new Abia.

Speaking during an interactive session with newsmen in Umuahia, Prince Kanu declared that after this month (November), any un-verified civil servant and pensioner will no longer be paid by the state government.

It would wbe recalled that Abia state had, for several years, been having problems with over-bloated workforce, due to influences by politicians and mischievous officials.

At the twilight of its exit, the immediate-past administration engaged over 5,000 personnel into the state civil service. This was in addition to the perennial padding of salaries since 2013 following the controversial ‘non-indigene’ palaver in the state.

According to Kanu, the government of Abia state has given the 197 private schools closed down for performing bellow standards, some period of grace to improve themselves, in terms of favourable teaching and learning environment, quality staff, etc.

He said government has given them some set of guidelines to work upon. Only those schools that meet the prescribed guidelines that would be allowed to open for business, while others remain closed.

Said he: “Government is reforming the Education system in Abia and all stakeholders and partners have to follow a common pattern” .

The commissioner further hinted that the screened and approved 16 Local government Transition committee chairmen /Mayors would be sworn-in, Thursday this week, to take governance to the rural communities of the state.

In her own contribution during the session, the Senior Special Adviser to the governor on Special Projects, Dr. Betty Emeka- Obasi said the government has been magnanimous to give civil servants and pensioners over five months to get verified.

She reiterated that after November, 2023, names of those not verified will be removed from state vouchers and regarded as non workers or pensioners of the state.

Mrs. Emeka- Obasi then advised those who have not been verified, for one reason or the other, to go back to their various Ministries, Departments and Agencies with all their documents for their heads of departments to do the needful and return same to the verification committee.

“They will not be paid after November”, she warned.

Her words: “We expect that everybody who is a staff in the State aught to have been verified. We have a good number of people who haven’t done that. Some didn’t appear at all , while some did and could not complete for various reasons.

“As many as found their names there , ought to have gone back to their MDAs; take the documents backing their claims that they ought to have been verified to their head of unit. The head of unit should further send these documents to the body that is doing the verification. From this month, if you are unverified you wouldn’t get a salary. But because this is a government that has human face, we have decided to open this exercise till the end of the year. You can still go back to your Ministry for corrections to be made”.

The Senior Special Assistant revealed that government decided to yank the unverified staff off from the payroll because The Governor Alex Otti led government is compassionate, otherwise, the affected staff should ordinarily be prosecuted for taking salaries without being duly recognized as bonafide workers of Abia State Government.

Also contributing the state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Prince Uzor Nwachukwu disclosed that Local Government Transition Committee chairman/ Mayors, who would be sworn-in Thuursday this week, would be given all the fund allocations that have accrued to the various LGAs to go and develop the grassroots areas of the state.

He declared: “All their monies would be given to them to go and develop the rural communities and make the anticipated changes in the Local Government areas.”

Answering a question, the commissioner explained that the use of “Mayor or Chairman” by the Alex Otti-led government for the Local government chief executives, is a matter of nomenclature. It does not add or subtract anything from them. The governor merely decided to adopt “Mayor” for them because of the caliber of people coming-in to make the desired change at the local areas.