Forty-one Oyo State civil/public servants, uncovered as ghost (No Show) workers are to be removed from the state’s payroll.
The 41 workers are from the 602 officers initially indicted and recommended for removal from the payroll by Messrs Sally Tilbot Consulting which was engaged by the Oyo State Government to undertake employees and pensioners’ verification/validation and payroll re-engineering, in what was tagged 2019/2020 staff audit.
Upon submission of the report by the consultants, on April 30, 2021, the state government set up an implementation committee that affirmed 41 ghost workers; cleared 40 others of any infraction; uncovered 10 deaths; 170 systematic retirements; and affirmed the option of voluntary retirement by 341 others with irregular records of service.
A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Seyi Makinde, Mr Taiwo Adisa, released on Wednesday, disclosed this development.
The 13-member Implementation Committee, headed by Mr D.O Olatunde, Permanent Secretary, Civil Service Commission, affirmed that “forty-one (41) officers established to be “No Show” should be removed from government payrolls immediately.”
The committee recommended that an administrative investigation be undertaken by the government to determine where the salaries of the “No Show” officers had been going.
The statement added that out of the 341 who indicated their decision of voluntary retirement to the Implementation Committee, 290 officers had turned in their voluntary retirement letters, while the 24 officers who failed to take advantage of the two-month window have now been retired by the concerned agencies of government.
The Implementation Committee, however, recommended that the government should affirm the resolve of 341 officers who opted to retire voluntarily following the discovery of irregular records of service in their files.
The affected officers are to be “helped to port into the pension payroll not later than two months after their respective notices of retirement,” the report stated.
The Committee, according to its report submitted to the government, had, however, recommended that 170 officers, who were found to have “retired systematically” (retirement according to age or years of service) be removed from the list of 602 earlier recommended for sanction by Tilbot Consultants.
Ten (10) others who were found to have died were also removed from the list prepared by the Consultants, while another 40 officers were cleared and absolved of any offence.
The report read in part: “From the above, it is observed that from the 602 alleged officers, one hundred and seventy (170) had already retired systematically due to no particular influence of the screening exercise and ten (10) deceased.
“Consequently, the Committee agreed that out of the 602 officers involved in the report: Forty (40) officers should be absolved and allowed to remain on government payrolls; one hundred and seventy (170) officers who had retired systematically should be allowed on pension payrolls; and ten (10) deceased officers should be paid their due entitlements.
It also agreed that: “three hundred and forty-one (341) officers that opted for voluntary retirement should be allowed to do so; forty-one (41) officers established to be “No Show” should be removed from Government Payrolls immediately; while the list of affected officers from Tertiary Institutions should be forwarded to their respective Governing Councils for necessary action.”
Besides the Permanent Secretary, Civil Service Commission, who chaired the Committee, other members include the Special Adviser, Economic Matters to the Governor, Prof. Musibau Babatunde; Special Adviser, Labour Matters, Comrade Bayo Titilola-Sodo; Permanent Secretary, Local Government Service Commission, Mr. Akin Funmilayo; Permanent Secretary, Service Matters, Office of the Head of Service, F.N Oladeinde; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Mrs. A.A Fasina; Acting Solicitor-General of the State, Mrs. Folabimpe Segun-Olakojo; Executive Secretary, State Universal Basic Education (SUBEB), Mr. O.J Adeniyi; Representative of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade (Mrs.) K.F Aiyedun; Representative of Trade Union Congress (TUC) Comrade Kola Badmus; Secretary, Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), Oyo State Chapter, Comrade Olusegun Abatan; Director, Service Matters, Office of the Head of Service, Mr. Goke Adenrele and the Deputy Director (EMR&P), Office of the Head of Service, Idowu Mashopa.
Source: Nigerian Tribune