Lalong Vows To Replace Staff With Questionable Records

The Plateau State Governor, Simon Bako Lalong has stated that his administration will not tolerate civil servants with questionable records and those who have falsified their data to remain in service or secure placement and promotions they do not deserve. 

Lalong disclosed this at the Government House on Friday in Jos while receiving the report of the High Powered Committee on Staff Audit and Verification that was saddled with the task of auditing the State Civil Service. 

He said the Committee was necessitated by the desire of the Government to address some of the challenges that constituted barriers to service delivery, professionalism, accountability and transparency. 

According to him "among other things, Government was worried that despite the number of people exiting from the service as a result of deaths, retirements, transfers, withdrawals etc., the state wage bill appeared to be constant and even increasing.

"In addition, the  Government was inundated with alleged cases of age falsification, record tampering, placements and other complaints that cast a negative image in the service and attempted to reduce the effectiveness and efficiency of the Civil Service.  

"This also restrained Government from conducting recruitment to inject fresh manpower into the system, resulting in a situation where the State Civil Service is confronted by loopholes and critical manpower shortages in various areas."

While commending the Committee under the leadership of Nde John G Gobak, for doing a wonderful job, Governor Lalong directed the Standing Committee on White Paper to immediately swing into action and submit a Draft White Paper for Government's consideration and swift implementation. 

He said this will enable Government to resume promotion as well as employment processes in the Service as soon as possible, and also assured civil servants that the report will not be used to witch hunt anyone and those who have questions to answer should be ready to answer them. 

Chairman of the Committee Nde John Gobak said as a result of the autonomy granted to the Judiciary and Legislature, the Committee only screened staff under the direct purview of the Executive with a total number of 14,418 officers said to be in Service. Only 13,978 were authenticated indicating a difference of 440.  Out of the 13,978 staff verified, 709 staff either falsified or altered their age while 673 others were wrongly placed/promoted/converted. 66 ought to have retired before the inauguration of the Committee on 20th April 2021.  17 cases were recommended for review by a Medical Board. 

He said the Committee established that there is a manifest disconnect between the Salary Automation Unit in the Ministry of Finance and other important Offices of Government such as the Office of the Head of Civil Service and the Office of the State Auditor- General resulting in the Unit’s seeming overbearingness and or ability to function unchecked. 

This he said resulted in some Staff still being paid salaries months after they had disengaged from the Service either by death, retirement, transfer or secondment due to failure to timely raise variation orders in that regard or collusion to circumvent the system and or outright acts of misconduct. 

The Committee, therefore, recommended that Salary Automation Unit should have a Tripartite Supervisory Linkage among the offices of the Head of Civil Service, State Auditor-General and the Accountant General who may either jointly endorse the payment mandates or ensure every month, that what is paid is well-vetted and genuine.

That is, while the Office of the Head of Civil Service compiles, the Office of the Auditor-General vets while the Office of the Accountant General pays. 

It also said all approvals earlier granted some Staff to change their dates of birth be rescinded while all employments/placements/conversions/advancements done against the provisions of the Schemes of Service and other extant Circulars as captured in the main report be withdrawn.