…2 tertiary institutions staff ordered to refund 4 years salary to LG coffers.
By Okey Maduforo Awka
The rot in the Anambra Local Government System was yesterday uncovered leading to the discovery of 222 ghost workers while six Directors had their appointments terminated by the state government over certificate forgery.
It was also discovered that two staff of College of Education Nsugbe in Anambra East local government area and an Accounting Officer with the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka have been receiving salaries from the local government system for four years despite the fact that they had disengaged their services with the Local Government System.
According to the Chairman Anambra Local Government Service Commission Barr Vincent Ifeanyi Ezeaka ;
“We discovered six Directors with questionable certificates and we sent them home and on Wednesday we set up a Committee for verification headed by a retired Permanent Secretary Mrs Ndidi Onuigbo the Chairman also ordered four members to screen from level 1 to level 14 on certificate, age falsification and date of first appointment and also cross check their records for the next three months”
From January this year a total of 222 ghost workers were removed from the pay role of the local government system and we discovered two staff one is a lecturer with College of Education Nsugbe who left four years ago but still receives salary from the local government while the other one is an Accounting Officer at the Audit Department of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka but still receiving salary from the local government for the past four years “
“We have asked them to come and refund the money paid to them for four years before we dismiss them “
“The total number of workers in the Anambra state local government system is 4,300 staff after we had removed the ghost workers and those that forged certificates
Ezeaka further explained that the activities are part of the Gov Charles Soludo agenda to sanitize the system adding that the since June this year the Local Government Service Commission commenced and concluded the verification and Biometric/ physical capturing of staff in the twenty one local government areas of the state.
Ezeaka noted that from the exercise it discovered the unrestrained looting and mismanagement of the local government accounts which was linked to the dedicated tracking system, continuous monitoring by Security Agents for the recovery of looted funds and prosecution of culprits.
“What we are doing is part of the solution agenda of Gov Charles Soludo who insists on new ways of doing things in Anambra state and if we can sanitize the local government, sanitize the community the state would be sanitize at large ” he said.
