As the Kaduna state government workers verification exercise winds down next month, ABDULRAHEEM AODU says for government, the pain may be worth the gain but the workers may disagree with the notion.
Barely one month after coming to power, Governor Nasir el-Rufai commenced a biometric verification exercise for the Kaduna state workers and pensioners to weed out ghost workers and pensioners, trim the wage bill and save more fund for developmental projects.
The scheme is aimed at addressing the economic challenges facing Kaduna state and the paucity of funds suffered by all tiers of Nigerian government, Governor Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai of Kaduna state in June 2015, commenced the biometric verification exercise for all civil servants in its employment to weed out ghost workers and clean up its payroll.
The exercise, which commenced simultaneously in the three senatorial zones in the state; Kaduna, Zaria and Kafanchan, was initially scheduled to last for two weeks and end on July 8th, 2015. It has however dragged on until 2016 as the state government only last week billed the exercise to end next month (April 2016).
Though for government the 10 months long exercise is deemed a huge success considering that it has so far save the state over N500 million monthly which added up to N6 billion annually in workers’ wage bill and N1.6 billion annually in pensioners wages, it has also put the workers through untold hardship as many of them were denied salary for many months despite being verified as real staff.
The verification exercise also cost over 26 workers their lives when they became victim of a suicide bomb attack during the verification exercise at the Sabon Gari local government council headquarters in July 2015, almost 40 others sustained various degrees of injury during the bomb blast.
Speaking ahead of the commencement of the exercise, Special Assistant to Governor Nasir El-Rufai on Media and Publicity, Mr Samuel Aruwan said that the exercise would help provide the state government with accurate data on its workers and reduce the state’s bogus payroll, adding that once the physical verification has been carried out, workers will receive the cheque for their June 2015 salary.
“The biometric verification exercise is designed to provide the government an accurate and reliable record of its personnel numbers, and clean-up its payroll. Data collected from the exercise will enable the government to determine if the billions of naira that are being expended monthly on staff salary are being paid to identifiable and verifiable civil servants, and make savings from an updated personnel record.
“A circular signed by the Head of Service, Mrs Alisabatu Dada Onazi, advised that civil servants must bring their letter of appointment, letter of last promotion and means of identification, which should be any of the following: national identity card, driver’s license, permanent voter’s card or international passport.
“The Head of Service directed that civil servants should physically appear before the verification team for screening and collection of their salary cheques for the month of June 2015.
The biometric verification exercise is scheduled for completion on Wednesday July 8, 2015,” Aruwan added.
But a day to the end of the first round of the exercise the Sabon Gari tragedy struck leaving many workers dead or injured, while many others who are not affected by the blast wonder why they have to be taken through such suffering and rigorous programme to receive the salary that they have worked for even after the month has ended.
According to one of the workers, who does not want his name in print, “the whole verification exercise is just a way of suffering us the workers. The people involved in the frauds that pervade the civil service are the same top people helping the state government to unravel the ghost workers.
“If government discover their fraud and block the source, they will start another scam scheme to continue with their fraud because they are a cabal that believe they are smarter than government and too strong to be stopped by the system.”
One of the workers, whose salaries accumulated for four months before she was paid due to the verification exercise lamented that they cannot feed properly at home and she had to deny her children many things because the state government was carrying out verification exercise, wondering what the verification exercise was intended to achieve.
Hear her, “my family faced many challenges because of the verification exercise because my husband is also a government worker. We did not receive our salary on time. I could not receive my salary since November 2015 until February 2016 we could not pay school fees on time.
“We could not feed well or buy clothes for our children, in fact I did not how we did the last Christmas because we almost became beggars to feed and clothe our children for that period it was a very terrible situation that I did not want to experience again.
Whatever verification government want to do they should not punish people because to me it was punishment for those of us that were involved and our families.”
The Kaduna state government must have felt the pains of its staff when the government commended them for their perseverance during the 10 months long verification exercise.
Governor El-Rufai speaking through Samuel Aruwan commended the state civil servants for their perseverance in the biometric verification exercise, saying that the exercise has so far saved the state government N500 million monthly in wages, which translates to N6 billion annually.
According to Aruwan, the verification is scheduled to end next month (April) when the workers’ patience and contribution to the success the verification exercise would show clearly.
“It is in the wider public interest to establish precisely who works for the government, to ensure that public funds are not being drained to pay ghost workers. It is also in the personal career interests of each worker that the payroll is not distorted or bloated by non-existent workers.
“Steady progress has been made since the verification process for workers and pensioners commenced in June 2015. The results so far show that the payroll for wages and pensions have declined from the N2.7bn it cost to pay workers in May 2015. The government is pushing to make further savings by unmasking more ghosts.
“To build on this success and ensure the integrity of the payroll, the government is pressing ahead with the concluding phase of the verification exercise. This is expected to end in April 2016. Workers who have patiently partaken in the exercise since June 2015 should demonstrate the same spirit now that verification is close to the finishing line.
“Anyone who has any doubts about the need to ensure that public funds are not frittered on ghosts should note that federal allocation to the state last month was N2.8bn. If the government had not taken steps to shrink the payroll and cut costs, what would be left for public services if the payroll remained at N2.7bn? The state’s IGR is not yet big enough to cover the gap.
“As an employer, the government regrets that some workers have encountered hitches during the verification process. The process we have launched to end in April will give a conclusive picture of public service data and hasten redress for the affected workers.
“Requesting that employees update their personnel records is fully within the rights of an employer. Participating in verification is compulsory for every government worker. Any public servant that is not verified will be considered a ghost and will be removed permanently from the nominal and payroll records of the state.
“Actions taken to enable a state government have reliable data of its workforce cannot be construed as a pretext for industrial action. In fact, it is a process that every citizen is expected to support and assist to a satisfactory conclusion,” Aruwan added.
Having saved over N7.3 billion annually from both current workers and pensioners and causing the removal of 2, 484 ghost pensioners, apart from other ridiculous discoveries including schools that doesn’t exist despite having principals and teachers and unborn children that have been enrolled into the state workforce, the verification exercise has achieved its objectives.
However, government must ensure that no worker is unjustly punished while palliatives should be provided for those that underwent unnecessary hardship during the exercise to ensure that it has human face despite the hardships.
