News
Comrade Agberen Calls On EFCC, ICPC To Probe Previous, Current Heads Of State Civil Service
….Says Too Many Financial Frauds, Misplacements Have Been Unnoticed
By Daniel Dafe
Comr. (Amb) Derrick Oritsematosan Agberen, National Coordinator, Initiative for Social Rights Concerns And Advancements(ISRCA) AKA, No Justice, No Peace, has said that “with the appointment of the new head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, OON, with effect from August 14, 2024 and also the recent strike and demands of NLC/TUC, on the need for the increments on the existing N30, 000 minimum wage of 2019 for the welfare of civil servants and that NLC/TUC reached a compromise with the President on N70,000 as minimum wage, it becomes imperative for State Heads of Civil Services, through the State Government to crack-down on ghost workers earning salaries in the State Government even while still abroad.
He said this in a statement on Thursday, adding that “a State Government in the right sense should be able to pay civil servants N100, 000, if not more, especially states that generate more income from revenues and the oil-producing states from the 13% derivation fund.”
He recalled that “the Governor of Edo State, had increased the minimum wage for civil servants in the State to N70,000, same time in the month of May, even before the resolution of NLC/TUC and the Federal Government.”
He continued: “Unarguably, Nigeria’s inability to actively provide a sizable percentage of its young people with employment, represents a growing challenge we must face sooner or later and yet, we have had a larger number of ghost workers and persons in governments receiving salaries meant for a large number of employees with unidentified names but a million youths are not gainfully employed.
“It would interest you that each academic year, universities and polytechnics admit close to 2 million students and produce about 600,000 graduates every year with no plans by the government on how they can be gainfully employed. The results and effects on the society are the insecurity challenges coupled with incessant kidnappings and robbery. The proportion of Nigerians without jobs who have advanced degrees is rapidly rising and there should be more widespread concerns about the situation that many graduates are confronted with.”
Meanwhile, he stated that “the verification exercises of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) has helped and still helping to expose some of the fraudulent activities being perpetuated by certain individuals in the service,” just as he called on the EFCC, ICPC and relevant agencies to probe into activities of previous and current heads of state civil service, prosecute persons in government and ghost workers under the payroll of the civil service and any civil servant that resigned or opted out from the physical verifications process.”