Staff Audit: Fear Grips Rivers Workers

Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt

There is palpable fear among the Rivers state civil servants as the state government starts a head count of its workforce by next week in its bid to eliminate ghost workers in the state civil service.
The Chairman of Rivers State Civil Service Commission, Hon. Ngo Martyns-Yellowe has declared that his team is determined to make the state civil service move forward in the scheme of things.
He said the impression created about the state civil service has not been encouraging, pointing out that weakness in the system such as frequent age declarations, and ghost workers syndrome would be eliminated with the introduction of a head count by the commission which will commence next week.
He stated this during an interactive forum with officers of directors cadre in the service.
The chairman also frowned at the activities of some Directors who by-pass their Permanent Secretaries to deal directly with their Commissioners thereby undermining the system and urged them to co-operate with one another, promising that promotion without benefit will soon be a thing of the past.
Governor Chibuike Amaechi’s administration has done periodic audit of its civil service and discovered an amount running into several millions of naira was diverted to paying ‘ghost’ workers in the state.