Dickson’s successor won’t inherit rot, says govt
Preliminary report of the ongoing reforms in the Bayelsa State public sector has thrown up some bizarre discoveries in the state civil service.
Over 8000 civil servants got their appointments by inheritance, a report of the verification committee said yesterday.
Without going through the established due process for recruitments, the indicted workers were said to have been brought in by their friends, parents and relatives who left they system to replace them.
The Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, who disclosed some strange findings, said the magnitude of rot inherited by the government was mind-boggling.
“The reforms have thrown up some discoveries which include over 8,000 inherited appointments. Some family members of deceased civil servants inherited their positions while irregular appointments, arbitrary promotion and impersonations has led to the over-bloated wage bill which the government is gradually reducing”, he said.
He said the investigations further revealed that people were selling appointments for N250,000 and engaging in other employment racketeering especially at the local government level.
On redeployment of staff, he said part of the reforms was to identify redundant persons and transfer them to other agencies in their interest and public good.
The commissioner who spoke to select journalists in Yenagoa assured the people that the implementation of the reforms was not meant to witch-hunt any public servant.
Iworiso-Markson averred that as painful as the government’s action was, it was done to avoid a collapse of the state’s public service.
He said that the government embarked on a painstaking process of implementing the reforms with a focus on the welfare and wellbeing of persons, who might be affected by the exercise.
He explained that the government was resolute in its decision to redeploy the affected workers to remove the clogs in the wheels of the state’s progress.
For instance he said the state-owned Radio Station (Glory FM) had over 300 personnel, while its private counterparts operate effectively with less than 12 personnel.
According to him, it was the decision of the government to screen, train and redeploy workers with specialization in education to schools since the state was in need of teachers.
He said that contrary to the erroneous impression created in some quarters, salaries of the affected persons were being paid into the Unpaid Salaries Account to be released after the redeployment.
He added that to give a human face to the implementation of the reforms, the government made an arrangement to make financial provision for persons found not qualified to be in the system.
Iworiso-Markson said that the plan was for the government to expose such people to training in the area of agricultural and entrepreneurial skills to enable them venture into private businesses.
He said: “The exercise itself is still ongoing and the entire public service is aware. You must note that the names of the people listed for redeployment are those submitted as redundant workers by the general managers and supervisors.
“For instance, there are over 300 staff in radio Bayelsa alone while private radio stations have about ten or fifteen doing the same job. The general managers were given the responsibility to fish out redundant personnel many of who were employed under questionable circumstances.
“So Government is saying that this is not sustainable. The onus is on government to bring them in, check their qualifications and redeploy them to appropriate agencies. Anybody with B. ED for instance, would go to the teachers training institute, trained and redeployed. Government would use these people to teach”.
Also the Deputy Governor, Rear Admiral John Jonah (retd), told persons opposed to the ongoing public sector reforms that the move was borne out of Governor Seriake Dickson’s desire to hand over a healthy and productive civil service to his successor.
He took a swipe on the opposers of the reforms describing them as unpatriotic individuals and groups.
“The government wants anyone who cares to listen that it has a responsibility to clean up a system that has been bastardized by some greedy individuals who over the years have taken advantage of the loopholes in the public service to perpetrate all forms of fraud”, he said.
Though he admitted some minor imperfections in the reform process, he said avenues had been provided for anyone address all genuine concerns. .
“We have a responsibility to reform the system within the limits of human imperfection. Like every other process we know this is not perfect but we are working to ensure a fair deal for everyone”, he said.
Jonah insisted that the restoration government was working hard to leave behind a robust public service by setting a standard for the next government to leverage on upon resumption.
He said: “We want those opposed to the reforms to know that it is not a witch-hunt but an inevitable exercise to save the public service from near collapse. The government is not selective in the renewed fight against payroll thieves and robbers.
“The right civil service procedures will be followed to disengage those who have either compromised the system in one way or the other or have allowed themselves to be beneficiaries of illegality.
“Contrary to insinuations in some quarters, we are not sacking anybody but those who have been confirmed to have falsified their age, certificates or have promoted themselves arbitrarily will have to go. These are cases that cannot be overlooked.
“However we are mindful of the effect of the action we are taking. So what we are doing is give those affected some form of soft landing by given them 3 months notice or 1 month notice of payment in lieu of their disengagement.
“To show our sincerity in the reforms, we are following the normal procedure as laid out in the civil service rule. As a responsible government we have made it possible for those who due to administrative and humans are caught in the web to seek redress before the judicial commission of inquiry headed by a competent judge”.
