Governor Agbu Kefas of Taraba State has ordered the immediate payment of salaries and outstanding entitlements to all civil servants cleared by the State Staff Verification Committee.
The directive followed the formal presentation of the committee’s report on Wednesday at the TY Danjuma House in Jalingo.
The report’s submission, as observed by The Guardian, marks a major milestone in the state’s effort to sanitise its workforce after a sweeping verification exercise conducted five months ago.
The exercise, it would be recalled, led to the removal of more than 7,000 names from the government payroll over concerns ranging from irregular employment to duplicated or non-existent service records.
Commending the committee for what he called an “exhaustive, transparent and courageous” job, Governor Kefas acknowledged their work was carried out under significant public scrutiny and institutional resistance.
He said the findings reaffirmed the need to safeguard the integrity of the civil service, noting that no government could make progress when due process is compromised.
He stressed that accountability in governance must be grounded in decisions that can stand the test of time, saying “posterity will always judge leadership choices either as a legacy of fairness or of negligence.”
The governor also directed the committee to review cases involving workers who may have been wrongly recruited due to administrative lapses.
He further instructed that a clear process be developed for their lawful re-engagement, provided they meet the established employment requirements.
Presenting the report, the Committee Chairman, Alhaji Abdulkadir Haruna, revealed that of the roughly 7,800 workers initially flagged, only 1,410 were fully cleared after extensive verification. Those cleared will be reinstated immediately and paid their outstanding entitlements.
Haruna described several troubling discoveries, including cases where millions of naira were overpaid to some civil servants in a single month. He said this highlighted an urgent need for tighter internal controls, full payroll automation, and strict adherence to financial regulations.
He further noted that many of those removed from the payroll had no traceable employment records, no appointment letters, postings, verification data, or any documentation linking them to legitimate government service.
The committee recommended fast-tracking the automation of the state payroll system to prevent future discrepancies and ensure that all cleared workers are promptly integrated into the digital payment platform.
With the report now submitted, the state government is expected to begin a new phase of reforms aimed at strengthening accountability, restoring order to the civil service, and rebuilding public confidence in government hiring processes.
