By Ike Uchechukwu, Calabar
The Cross River State Government has defended its ongoing payroll sanitisation exercise, dismissing Wednesday’s protest by persons claiming to be unpaid local government workers as an attempt to pressure the government into recognising appointments that did not follow due process.
The Commissioner for Local Government Affairs, Chief Victor Felix Idem, said the protesters were not legitimate employees of the Local Government Service but individuals whose names were introduced into the payroll outside approved recruitment procedures.
Idem, in a statement on Thursday, said the government had approved the recruitment of about 500 personnel into the Local Government Service, but alleged that the process was manipulated, resulting in the inclusion of thousands of unauthorised names.
“The facts are very clear. Government approved the recruitment of about 500 personnel into the Local Government Service.
“What we subsequently discovered was that several thousands of additional names had found their way into the system without the approval of government and completely outside the established recruitment process. Those are the irregularities we are painstakingly addressing,” he said.
The commissioner said the discovery prompted the removal of officials linked to the process, the dissolution of the former leadership of the Local Government Service Commission and the engagement of forensic experts to audit the payroll.
He said every name on the payroll was subjected to verification to ensure that only properly recruited and documented employees were paid.
“We brought in consultants and forensic experts because government has a sacred responsibility to protect public funds. Every name on the payroll was subjected to rigorous verification. Our goal is simple, to ensure that only duly recruited and lawfully documented employees are paid with taxpayers’ money,” Idem stated.
He maintained that genuine local government workers had continued to receive their salaries without interruption, dismissing claims that the government owed legitimate employees 11 months’ salaries.
“There are no outstanding salaries owed to duly recruited local government workers. Those making such claims are simply not reflecting the true situation. Every legitimate employee captured on the payroll continues to receive his or her salary as and when due,” he said.
Idem warned that the administration would not yield to pressure to regularise appointments that were not made in accordance with laid-down procedures.
“No amount of blackmail, street protest, media propaganda or emotional appeal will compel this administration to validate appointments that did not follow due process,” he said.
“Government cannot and will not reward irregularities by placing persons on the public payroll merely because they have taken to the streets.”
The commissioner said the reforms were aimed at correcting anomalies inherited by the administration of Governor Bassey Otu and restoring discipline, transparency and credibility to the Local Government Service.
“What we inherited was a system that required urgent cleansing. The ongoing reforms are intended to restore order, discipline and credibility to the Local Government Service,” he added.
Idem assured that Governor Otu remained committed to building a public service based on merit and accountability, declaring that “the era of indiscriminate recruitment, payroll manipulation and financial leakages is over in Cross River State.”
He urged members of the public to disregard what he described as misinformation surrounding the payroll verification exercise.
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