How Gombe Civil Servants Fraudulently Received N2.5bn Salary Monthly

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Governor of Gombe, Inuwa Yahaya, says the state spends N2.5bn monthly on salaries of about 67,000 employees who were later discovered to be fraudulently receiving salaries from more than one government agencies.

According to Punch, the governor disclosed that Gombe received N4.5bn monthly from the Federation Account and that the monthly workers’ salary was a drain on its resources.

Yahaya stated this at the inauguration of the civil service review committee on Friday.

He said there were government workers who were originally employed in the local government service before their transfer to the state service, yet they continued to draw salaries from both services, some of whom were appointed as Personal Assistants and Special Assistants to the state governor.

“The transition committee had stated in its report the need to reform the civil service for better service delivery, and when I assumed office, I realised that the need was an urgent one,” the governor noted.

He added that the size and numbers of the ministries helped in embedding fraud and abnormalities in the critical sector.

“When we came in, what we found was a structure that contained 27 ministries.

“After a careful analysis, we realised that we might not need more than 18; there is no way Gombe State could go with 27 ministries” he noted.

The 11-member committee on the Review and Restructuring of the State Civil Service, headed by Dr Jalo Daudu, a retired federal permanent secretary and former head of civil service of the state, is expected to review the structure and functions of the Gombe State Ministries, Departments and Agencies; and to suggest ways of reforming Gombe civil service.