Gombe weeds ,1000 workers as USAID bankrolls budget training

No fewer than 1,000 ghost workers have been weeded by Gombe State. The move, subsequently, saved government of a N100 million monthly wage bill.

Speaking yesterday in the capital amid an ongoing biometrics that exposed the over 20 years fraud, Commissioner for Finance and Economic Planning, Muhammed Magaji, stated that the affected workers deserved jail terms.

He noted: “They did not go to work but were drawing salaries every month.

“By the time we finally deploy all the biometric networks in all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) across the state capital, I am sure the figures will double or even triple.”

In his remarks, the Special Adviser to Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, Dr. Muhammed Ishiyaku, deplored the act as unfortunate and unpatriotic.

ALSO, the North East state listed the benefits accrued from a three-day training of its workers by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The commissioner said the state’s statistics planning officers, budget officers and directors had been improved.

“This exercise will teach our staff new ways in planning and also enhance and deepen our collaboration with stakeholders in the preparation of our budget,” he noted.

To the Special Adviser on Budget and Economic Development, Dr. Muhammed Ishiyaku, the programme would help the state to “prepare a better budget and provide better dividends of democracy for the citizenry.”

Addressing the over 50 participants, Director-General, Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Alhaji Yusuf Dauda Kaltungo, identified corruption as a menace that had eaten deep into all of the nation’s sectors.

USAID, through its public financial management specialist, Dr. Ngozi Akpala, said the workshop would help Gombe in achieving better service delivery, noting: “It is to train participants that government should be participatory and to always work as a team to retain the confidence of the people.