The Commissioner designate and Special Adviser to Governor Alex Otti on Strategic Communications, Prince Okey Kanu, has attributed lack of compliance to the ongoing verification exercise carried out by the state government, as the main reason why some Ministries, Agencies and Parastatals are yet to receive their June Salary.
Prince Kanu who made the disclosure while briefing Journalists, at Government House Umuahia,on the outcome of Yesterday’s meeting between Governor Otti and Commissioner Nominees said, although complaince to government’s directive is “almost 98-99%, some MDAs were yet to key into the verification exercise”.
Kanu while noting that the present “government is very resolute about not paying salaries to the MDAs affected unless their payrolls are verified” disclosed that the exercise has been able to save the state a total of about 370 Million naira.
He said; “Salaries have been paid, however, the complaince (to government’s directive) is almost 98-99% but we know that some people have not been paid and we want to put the records straight.
“Those in the Local Government areas have not been paid and the reason is because the Local Government Services Commission has not been able to key into the ongoing verification exercise that the state government is carrying out.
“The verification exercise is very key because the state has been carrying an overbloated payroll. We have instances of ghost workers, we have instances of padding, we have instances of people who are talking salaries for no work done, so the government decided to embark on this verification exercise to remove all these wastages interms of Salaries paid to people who are not adding any value to governance.
“So far, this exercise has been able to save the state in the neighborhood of almost 370 million naira and counting. So what that means is that in the days ahead, more funds will be saved for the state.
“As soon as the Local Government Service Commission complies with the verification exercise, the Local Government staff would be paid.
“Same goes for the Judiciary staff and some parastatals, once they are able to finish with the verification, the MDAs would be paid in a matter of days”.
Kanu, who noted the administration of Governor Alex Otti is making steady progress in the core areas of his campaign promises, said the governor having declared a state of emergency in sectors such as Health, Education, Waste Management, Security and Internally Generated Revenue,(IGR) would vigorously tackle challenges in the sectors.
