The Bauchi State Government has suspended with immediate effect, all Local Government Education Secretaries and their Treasurers, as well as Directors of Primary Healthcare in the 20 Local Government Areas of the state.
The State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Dr Ladan Salihu, who disclosed this in a statement, said the move was part of efforts to ensure sanity in the payment of workers’ salaries.
The statement directed the affected officers are to handover affairs of their offices to their immediate subordinates, as their suspension is to ensure that the on-going investigation in the payment of workers’ salaries is not compromised.
According to the statement, the state government has found it expedient to make a further statement regarding the payment of salaries as more than 41,000 civil servants on the government payroll in the Administration of Salaries and Pension in the State and Local Government were been paid without Bank Verification Number.
The statement explained that this represents more than 40% of the state’s workforce as the total number of staff on the state and local government payroll is 83,885, while state and local government pensioners is 17,314, resulting to the total payroll staff strength of 101,199.
It said the official breakdown of civil servants in Bauchi State without is 5,316 in the State Civil Service, 19,605 in Local Education Authority, 1,933 in Primary Healthcare, 4,705 in Directorate of Local Government, 4,019 in State Pensioners, while is 5,870 in Local Government Pensioners.
The statement disclosed that already, the state government has directed that salaries meant for the 41,488 names on the payroll without BVN be warehoused by the State’s Accountant General pending further investigation.
