Gombe Govt. Stops Salaries Of 731 Workers For Absenteeism

Gombe State Government has suspended the payment of salaries of 731 workers for being absent from work in the month of September while 170 others are being investigated.

Mr. Muhammad Magaji, the state Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development, stated this at the monthly news conference on implementation of the Biometric Attendance verification for the civil servants, on Tuesday.

Magaji said that the state government saved N57.68 million from the suspension of salaries of the affected workers for the month.

According to Magaji, some 170 staff with salaries amounting to N19.66 million are being investigated, adding their salaries for the months would be paid.

“Because they have achieved sufficient attendance but are being investigated to know why they fall into this category.

“The total suspension from the payroll for September is 731 staff with N57,682,403 while the total number of staff under investigation is 170 with N19, 658,080.

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“The grand total for the month of September for both suspensions and investigations is 901 staff with salaries amounting to N77, 340, 484,’’ he said.

Magaji said that workers in 10 of the 11 Local Government Areas of the state were enrolled into the biometric system while the remaining workers from Funakaye are currently being captured.

While commenting on the gains of the biometric verification, the commissioner said that the exercise when completed would avail the state of the opportunity to employ new people.

“After the completion of the enrolment, there would be a general mop-up for both state and local governments to ensure that those who were left out during enrolment are given final opportunity to be captured.’’

“Because we know that this number we have, a lot of them are not real staff; so by the time you weed them out, there will be sufficient number of vacancy to be filled by capable hands.”

Also speaking, Mr Bappayo Yahaya, the state Head of the Civil Service, urged workers to take the exercise seriously, adding that there was no going back on the implementation of the biometric attendance verification.

Yahaya, who is also the chairman of the state’s Committee on Integrated Payroll Payment Gateway and Human Resource Management System responsible for the verification, advised workers to “come early to work and close as and when due.’’

The total workforce in the state and local government is over 62, 000.