The Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Seriake Dickson, yesterday, said his administration had no plans to sack civil servants in the state.
Dickson, who spoke through his deputy, Rear Admiral John Jonah (retd), also denied allegations that his government had penciled down over 500 civil servants accused of supporting the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the just-concluded governorship election, for sanction.
Speaking during the monthly Transparency Briefing in Yenagoa, Dickson said the ongoing workers’ verification in the state was not designed to sack civil servants for their stand during the election.
The governor, however, condemned the action of some civil servants, who he said openly campaigned for political parties during the election.
While describing such action as wrong and against civil service rule, the governor said that his administration never gave any directive to sanction and stop the salaries of civil servants.
He said the ongoing verification exercise by an Establishment Committee and the delay in the payment of salaries arose from the continued financial deficit experienced by the government in the payment of salaries.
He said: “On the issue raised by some 500 workers in the state, to the best of my knowledge and due discussion with Governor Seriake Dickson, there is no plan by the government to retrench any worker.
“However, we must add that although the partisan posture of some workers during the election was wrong, there is no plan to sanction or retrench anyone over that.
“The verification being conducted by the Establishment committee is to look inward and examine ourselves as an administration. We are doing this due to the consistent deficit we are experiencing. This is why there is no government official on the committee.
“We have asked them to help check and also find other ways of raising revenues. If they come out to say, the figures we have is correct, so be it. If they say we have some addition, we will check again. Things at the moment are hard and it is a challenging moment for us as a state.”
Dickson also announced a deficit spending of N1.713bn in November 2015, saying a total of N4.804bn accrued to the state.
He noted that over N6.518bn was spent on the payment of salaries for workers and political appointees, overhead costs and loan repayment.
He said that the deficit and the reluctance of some banks to provide loan facilities to the state because of the governorship election were factors responsible for the delay in the payment of workers’ salaries.
Post a Comment
Post a Comment