The Governor of Nigeria’s northern State of Adamawa is defying a court order to reinstate members of the Civil Service Commission (CSC).
When he assumed office last year, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri (pictured) dissolved all boards and commissions appointed by his predecessor.
The sacked members of the CSC then challenged the Governor’s action in the Industrial Court which ruled that the dissolution of the Commission had contravened the law and therefore the termination of the appointments was unconstitutional and null and void.
However, when contacted, Attorney-General Afraimu Jingi said: “The claimants should do whatever they want; the termination stands.”
Meanwhile, the Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodinma has admitted that fraud syndicates are active in his Public Service.
In a radio broadcast to mark his first 100 days in office, Mr Uzodinma said his administration had discovered 1,000 ghost workers in the Government service since assuming office.
“For 10 years, 30,000 retirees have remained on the pension payroll, implying that no pensioner died and no fresh retiree enrolled within the period under review,” Mr Uzodinma said.
“This is unlikely, suggesting fraud and manipulation of the roll,” he said.
He said investigations had discovered that Imo had 27 Local Government areas with a combined workforce of 57,000 employees, yet just 17,000 persons were captured in income tax payments.
“It is also incredible to discover that some people earned salaries as Civil Servants and were also being paid a pension as retirees,” Mr Uzodinma said.
While these discoveries are expected to save the Government billions of naira, there is growing clamour within the State for mass prosecutions of the Public Servants behind the fraud.
Abuja, 12 May 2020
