The Kogi Government has stopped payment of salaries of 231 workers in the State Civil Service for alleged failure to comply with the government directive to update their records.
The state’s Head of Service (HoS), Mrs Hannah Odiyo, made this known on Wednesday in Lokoja at the inauguration of issuance of Identity (ID) cards to state’s workers.
Odiyo said that the affected civil servants failed to comply with Kogi State government’s directive to update their records.
The HoS said that the salaries of the affected civil servants had been suspended since November 2023 till date.
Odiyo explained that the exercise was carried out in a bid to further authenticate the updated staff records.
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She explained that in May 2022, her Office had earlier sent out an enclosed form (Bio Data Form) to all Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) to be filled by the civil servants and returned.
She emphasised that an authentic data was required for adequate planning by the government, especially in a transition period like this.
“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.
“This 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?,” she querried.
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary (PS), Research Evaluation and Policy Analysis/Certificate Verification Department (REPA), Mrs Memunat Shuaib, commended the HoS for her proactiveness in ensuring the actualisation of the project.
On his part, Mr Teddy Adegbola, the PS, Ministry of Information and Communications, congratulated the government for a landmark achievement in the history of Kogi civil service.
The PS, Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs Modupe Andi also applauded the office of the head of civil service for a successful update exercise. (NAN)
