POLITICS
Taraba Govt blames issues in LG, teacher’s salaries on saboteurs, BVN
Taraba government on Monday said saboteurs and improper Bank Verification Number (BVN) of some staff were responsible for the delay in the payment of some local government workers, teachers and pensioners.
Permanent Secretary, Bureau for local government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr. Bello Yero and the Executive Secretary, State Primary Education Board, Mr. Yakubu Agbaizo disclosed this in Jalingo at the Face the Press Programme.
Bello said Directors of Finance, Clarks, Cashiers and some NULGE officials were found to have been deeply involved in short changing junior workers in their councils.
“Following discovery of some sharp practices in the system, government embarked on biometric verification to ascertain the actual number of genuine staff to block leakages.
“Critical stakeholders including the organised labour were contacted and they endorsed the exercise. But when the exercise began, some directors of finance, Clark and Cashiers who were benefiting from the system began moves to frustrate the exercise including mobilising some staff to come to bureau and protest.
“As we speak, many of those cleared by the exercise have been paid, those still complaining are those with BVN issues or different names on their documents, but we are working hard to resolve the issues.
Already, 8 directors involved in the corrupt deal in Sardauna local government area of the state were dismissed on the order of the governor. Many more would be sanctioned according to civil service rule,” he said.
On his part, Executive Secretary, Universal Basic Education Board, Mr. Yakubu Agbaizo also accused directors of finance and other senior local government officials of short changing teachers in the state.
He explained that over 1200 teachers were illegally recruited before he assumed office which jacked up the salary bill of the board to over N734 million monthly.
“We are currently doing biometric exercise to ascertain the actual number of teachers. Those who were successfully screened have collected their salaries, except those with BVN issues,” he said.
Earlier, the convener of Face the Press Programme and Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Public Affairs, Hon. Emmanuel Bello said the initiative was aimed at bringing public servants to have interface with media practitioners to shed more light on the activities of Governor Ishaku’s led administration.
Bello who was a former commissioner for information in the state also appealed to journalists to come out with useful suggestions on how best to solve some of the problems other than being confrontational.
NIGERIA DECIDES
Davido's Net Worth & Lifestyle 
