- urges NLC President to seek for facts about Kogi before making statements
The Kogi State Government has said its decision to publish details of salaries paid to each public servant since the inception of the present administration in the state on January 27, 2016 was to “silence the falsehood of nonpayment of salaries peddled against the present administration in the state.”
Addressing newsmen in Lokoja Wednesday, the Director General on Media and Publicity to the Governor, Kingsley Fanwo, said the Governor is not owing workers “who have been verified to be genuine and consequently cleared,” saying the outcry over nonpayment was coming from “fraudulent beneficiaries of the ghost workers syndrome who have been cut off the system.”
The Governor’s spokesman said the Governor did not only clear the arrears it met at inception, but has been up to date with salaries.
He said, “It is unfortunate that mischief makers have been brandishing fake news about Kogi State as regards payment of salaries. Kogi State Government has paid up to March 2017. Those we are owing now are those who recently scaled the hurdle of appeals made possible by the Governor. The Governor just received the report two days ago and efforts are in top gear to pay those who have just been cleared.
“We have given our reports to the public. Kogi expended over 41 billion naira on salaries between January 2016 and March 2017. We have published all our payments to civil servants on our website,
Kogistate.gov.ng. We won’t be bothered by blackmail because we know where they are coming from.”
The Governor’s spokesman said the civil service reforms in the state will see the light of the day for the benefits of the people, the civil servants and the government.
“We are looking beyond the screening exercise. We are looking at a holistic reform of the civil service to ensure efficiency. Database will be built to guide against the poor documentation in the service. The clock-in and clock-out system will be installed to ensure those who are paid to do government jobs actually do the jobs for which they are paid. Kogi State will be better after this exercise.”