The
last time I checked, the Nigerian civil service system was still deeply
bedeviled by a cankerworm known as ‘ghost workers’. The syndrome, which isn’t
peculiar to the federal level, is indeed ubiquitous that no certain level/unit
of government is exempted whenever its scourge is being discussed. Funnily
enough, the anomaly has lingered that anyone could insinuate that it’s a norm.
Two years ago, precisely on Thursday, 5th
May 2016, during the meeting between federal ministries and Newspaper
Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) in Lagos State as organized by the Minister
of Information and Culture – Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Finance Minister, Mrs.
Kemi Adeosun categorically disclosed that the ongoing N165 billion monthly
salaries cum allowances of federal civil servants was over-bloated, thus could
no longer be sustained by the Federal Government (FG).
Mrs. Adeosun who was speaking on the economy
reform agenda of the present administration, stated that the said fund
represented about forty percent (40%) of the total spending made by the FG.
According to her, the figure was outrageous; hence, government was pursuing
aggressive measures towards detecting as well as prosecuting ghost workers and
other saboteurs in the system.
She
landed with a mind-boggling revelation that the Nigerian Railway Corporation
(NRC), which wasn’t fully functional, still had names of about ten thousand
(10,000) workers on its payroll regularly serviced by the FG’s coffers.
In
a related development, in the same 2016, over a huge sum of N4 billion fraud
was reportedly discovered in Aso Rock, the Nigeria’s Seat of Power. The
discovery was made by President Muhammadu Buhari’s National Security Adviser
(NSA), Major Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd). Aside his alleged shocking discovery,
which was made after a general security auditing and verification exercise
ordered by Mr. President, the NSA further disclosed that names of twenty-nine (29) ghost security
personnel had been on security payroll in the Presidency over the years.
The various states and LGAs across the
federation aren’t exceptional. On Thursday, 26th May 2016, the
Bayelsa State government said it had uncovered payroll fraud in the State
Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), with the discovery of over 765 illicitly
employed teachers in the existing eight local government councils in the state.
According to the report, names of fifty (50) dead teachers were equally found
on the payroll of Ogbia Local Government Education Authority (LGEA) alone.
In spite of the thus far war against
corrupt practices or graft invented by the Buhari-led government since
inception, the payroll of most government MDAs, and even that of the
pensioners, at various levels are still presently influenced by the enemies of
the society. This very societal ill, if not aptly tackled, is liable to
degenerate into a colossal economic damage in no distant time.
It baffles me that at this age, Nigeria is
still lagging behind as regards Information and Communications Technology (ICT).
We can’t continue indulging ourselves in retrogressive issues in an era when
ICT or Hi-Tech has succeeded in simplifying everything, or unraveling every
mystery related to information. Most times I wonder; is it that Nigeria cannot
afford the services of IT, or that she can’t boast of or source for the
required IT personnel?
The
answer, of course, is No. Nigeria can afford all of the above. Her plight ab initio,
has been lack of orientation and corruption. The people she had had in
positions of authority refused to be convinced that ICT is the only way forward
concerning the lingering payroll palaver in the country, perhaps owing to lack
of political will occasioned by corruption. However, we are intensely glad the
current administration apparently detests graft profusely.
As the President Buhari–led administration is
interested in getting it right, it must acknowledge that obtaining a
comprehensive database for all the federal workers is long overdue. Such
measure can only be actualized via a forensic approach. To this end, a special
unit/department must be created by law under the Ministry of Finance. The
proposed unit is subject to be manned by well qualified and reliable IT
experts; and no one ought to have access to the department, except its staff
and the director/HOD.
Additionally,
an agency comprising thoroughly scrutinized individuals ought to be set up by
law to monitor or oversee the day-to-day activity of the department. The agency
would ascertain whenever a worker dies or retires, as the case may be, among
other likely events, and thereafter ensure that the record is duly implemented
by the unit. Moreover, from time-to-time through their oversight functions, the
federal legislators should invite the members, particularly the chairman, of
the agency to keep them abreast of happenings.
For the above unit to function tactically and
properly, every federal MDA must equally boast of a competent and reliable IT
unit that would regularly update that of the Finance Ministry being the
umbrella body, on matters relating to employment, death, retirement, expulsion,
retrenchment, or what have you; the said agency would assist in monitoring the
genuineness and adequacy of the aforementioned cooperation. For efficiency’s
sake, the unit must engage a viable and reliable software consulting firm
toward ensuring holistic update of its software maintenance.
The
above measure ought to as well be replicated on the part of payment of pensions
and gratuities. And, the various state governments ought to, on their part,
endeavour to borrow a leaf from the overall proposed approach. It’s arguably
time we fully embraced ICT towards enjoying forever. Think about it!
FDN Nwaozor
National Coordinator,
Right Thinkers Movement
___________________________
Twitter:
@mediambassador
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