Kogi State government has finally suspended the salary payment of 231 civil servants, following failure in compliance with standing order.
The State Head of Service, Hannah Odiyo confirmed the disturbing news and alleged that they were ghost workers who do not really exist.
Odiyo stated this on Wednesday in Lokoja at the flagging off of issuance of identity cards for workers, disclosing that the affected civil servants have failed to comply with state government’s directive to update their records.
She said, in May 2022, that her office had sent out an enclosed form – “Bio Data Form” – to all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to be filled by the civil servants and returned as soon as possible.
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While expatiating on reasons for the move, he claimed that authentic data was required for adequate planning by the government, especially in a transition period.
“Although the Bio Data exercise revealed a lot of inadequacies on the part of the MDAs, a total number of 231 staff have failed to show up for the updated records exercise, which has led to the suspension of their salaries since November 2023 till date.
“The question now is, where are they? Who are they? Are they ghosts?” Odiyo stated.
Earlier, the permanent secretary of the Research Evaluation and Policy Analysis/Certificate Verification Department (REPA), Mrs Shuaib Memunat Dede, in a welcome address, commended the Head of Civil Service for her pro-activeness in ensuring the actualization of the project.
However, some of the affected civil servants claimed they had been victimized because of the last election in the state in which they refused to vote for the APC despite threats and intimidation.
“We are being punished for exercising our rights during the November 17 election in the state because we didn’t vote for their preferred candidate,” alleged Musa who is one of the affected workers in the state.
