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By Emmanuel Adeleke
Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu, has ordered the immediate sack of some civil servants for allegedly collecting double salaries.
He gave the directive on Wednesday while receiving the report of the committee on verification, scrutinisation and clean-up of the state’s payroll.
The governor, who noted that the state payroll, including salaries and pensions, had been compromised, set up a seven-member committee to continuously clean up the payroll of infractions.
The committee chaired by the former permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Victor Olajorin, submitted its report to the governor at his office in Alagbaka, Akure.
Receiving the report, Akeredolu frowned at the different infractions noticed in the payroll and decried the over-bloated workforce, which he said was occasioned by many ghost workers.
He directed all ministries, departments, and agencies in the state to stop recruitment under any guise until the committee has concluded its assignment.
“We have over-bloated workforce and undoubtedly, I am sure there are many ghost workers.
“Those who are receiving double salaries, apart from recovering the money from them, I am directing the Head of Service to get them dismissed. They must serve as a deterrent to others ” he said
The governor appreciated the committee for doing a good job and not compromising on their integrity.
Earlier, Olajorin told the governor that the first and major step taken by the committee was to contact the various agencies, including the Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM), Hospitals’ Management Board (HMB), and Local Government Service Commission (LGSC), among others.
He explained that the committee also obtained vital documents like the nominal roll, disposition list, pay register, and pension payroll to achieve its mandate.
“The documents were consequently scrutinised and in the process, some infractions were discovered.
“Mr Governor, permit me to inform you that our beam light was initially focused on TESCOM and some of the infractions detected were about officers/pensioners receiving both salary/pension, retired officers later reappointed and drawing salary/pension, officers whose salaries are hanging among others.
“Details are contained in the Volume I report of the committee. In the process, a sum of N304,859,812.51 was discovered as the aggregate loss to the state government from the above infractions.
“In furtherance of our activities, attention was shifted to the pay register of the Hospital Management Board. The committee carried out on-the-spot verification for both medical and non-medical personnel in their various facilities across the state.
“The exercise led to the discovery of some unwholesome practices like abscondment, study leaves without pay, payment of salaries to officers after resignation, while some officers couldn’t be traced to any health facilities.
“So far, a sum of N192,873,592 has been discovered from HMB as the total loss to the state government. Mr Governor, permit me to mention that the committee has so far identified the sum of N497,733,404 for infractions in TESCOM and HMB,” Olajorin said
The chairman also explained that another issue of concern found by the committee was the lop-sidedness observed in the posting of officers to health facilities in urban centres to the detriment of the ones in rural areas.
Other members of the Committee are Tope Popoola Esq; Hadj Badmos; Dr Ola Obaado; Bola Taiwo; Kayode Edema and Lawrence Akintunde.