Dead Civil Servants Names Still On Ekiti’s Payroll, As Fayose Warns Officers

The names of many dead civil servants are still on Ekiti State’s payroll, Governor Ayo Fayose said at the weekend. He warned that officials in charge would henceforth be held responsible to prevent financial leakages, which, he said, are robbing government of millions of naira.

According to the governor, such funds supposed to be channelled to other places for people’s benefit.

The governor handed down the warning at the weekend during a meeting with Directors of Finance and Accounts, Directors of Administration, Chief Internal Auditors and others from Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). Fayose added that his administration might stop the central payment of state and local government workers’ salaries. Local governments, he said, would be encouraged to pay their workers at their own levels. Warning against what he called “careless endorsement of documents by civil servants, Fayose frowned at a situation whereby people that had left the service or are dead still had their names on the nominal roll. He said: “Unfortunately, such names are still not removed when the pay roll is being prepared as well. Why should we be spending our scarce resources wastefully? “We are no longer going to tolerate the issue of buck-passing, where someone would claim he is not the one that generates the nominal roll and so does not properly go through before preparing the payroll. “Henceforth too, the nominal and pay rolls must be properly scrutinised by the internal auditors before being signed. The system has adequate checks and balances already in place and if not for collusion by concerned public servants, no sharp practices could take place. “It is advisable that every officer properly goes through any document before signing such, as the person who endorses any document is going to be held responsible in case of any trouble,” he said.