The new administration that would take over from the current administration in Bayelsa state may have a lot to contend with in terms of employment racket through which some persons found their ways into the state work force as JOY EMMANUEL reports.
As the restoration government of Henry Seriake Dickson winds down few days in Bayelsa state, there are allegations of secret employment going on.
At the last check, over 8,000 civil servants employed at the eleventh hour by the outgoing administration have sparked controversy in the state.
Shortly after the declaration of Chief David Lyon of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as winner of the 2019 governorship election in the state, the reports of secret employments began to filter into the public space.
It was learnt that indiscriminate issuance of appointment letters to preferred individuals has become the order of the day in all the ministries as well as at the local government level.
It was gathered that some of the appointment letters were backdated by top officials in the state and local governments civil service to cover up holes through which fraudulent acts were being perpetrated in the system knowing that a new government is about to come in.
Some civil servants who are not comfortable with the development told Blueprint that if not properly handled, the situation may spell financial doom for the incoming government.
A grade level-12 civil servant who did not want to be named in prints described the development as a “deliberate act by the outgoing government to cause a financially catastrophic take-off situation for the incoming government.
According to him, “How can a government that is leaving office in a matter of days be embarking on secret employment of civil servants without due process? Do they want to crash the civil service system for the incoming government?”
Also speaking, an economic analyst in the state that equally preferred to be anonymous for obvious reasons said, “Those employments, if true, would not stand. As soon as the incoming government assumes office, they should review them so as not to give the new administration unnecessary financial burden.”
He, however, exonerated the state governor from being culpable in the last minute employments reportedly taking place in the state civil service.
He noted that, “Most of these illegal employments that often occur when a government’s tenure is winding up are perpetrated by very senior civil servants who are used to defrauding the system for their selfish gains.
“We have seen a situation where employment letters are issued to employees today but the appointment date reads five years ago.
“The incoming government should be wise to be able to understand who was employed, when and how. If the incoming government is not careful enough, with the already fraudulently over-bloated civil service, the implementation of the new minimum wage would become a burden.”
Meanwhile, efforts to reach the chairman of the Bayelsa State Civil Service Commission, Dr Peter Singabele, did not yield positive results as several calls put through to his cellphone for comments on the issue were neither picked nor returned.
He also did not reply to a Short Message Service (SMS) sent to his mobile phone line at the time of filing this report.
It could be recalled that the outgoing Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government led two term administration under Governor Dickson genuinely employed 1,000 graduates into the state civil service in 2019.
Just recently, Gov Dickson gave the directive during the 5th convocation ceremony of the Niger Delta University (NDU) from 2015 to 2019 academic sessions, saying that the state government has offered automatic employment to 104 First Class graduates of the state-owned university located in Amasomma. That is, however, different from the recent employment racketeering that is like a bomb that would explode soon when the new administration comes on board.
