Facts are emerging from the on going verification of the Niger
State workforce on how government paid top government functionaries
double salary and the way salary of junior officials are inflated to
divert government fund.
A messenger at the Ministry of Finance earns N265,000 monthly while a cleaner at General Hospital Minna earns N375,000 monthly.
Leadership newspaper learnt from sources close to the verification firm, Sally Tibbot
Consultants that no fewer than three permanent secretaries in Niger
State civil service earned over N1.3 million monthly.
It was
revealed that ordinarily the salary of a permanent secretary should be
between N400,000 and N500, 000 but the said permanent secretaries
because of their professional background earn another salaries as
consultants to another government agency bringing their monthly earnings
to N1.3 million.
The source revealed that “ the irony is that
some of the said permanent secretaries were members of the committee set
up by the government to guide the consultants in the ongoing
verification exercise.”
Similarly investigation also revealed
that a messenger earns N265,000 in Ministry of Finance and a cleaner
also earns N375,000 in General Hospital Minna whereas they are supposed
to earn less than N30,000 each monthly.
In the same vein at the
Veterinary Department in the Ministry of Agriculture a man who took cows
for grazing earns accelerated salary scale of N375,000 while originally
his salary is only N23,000 monthly.
It was gathered that when
the junior staff were confronted they denied collecting the said money
rather it was discovered that their names were being used by top
government officials to divert the said amount even as they collect
their actual salary at the end of the month.
Consequently a ring
of top officials who ran the scam with the names of the junior officials
were being unveiled by the consultants and it has started sending fears
to some officials in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in
Niger State who are now running for cover.
The leader of the
consultancy firm (Sally Tibbot Consultant) conducting the verification
exercise Sa’adatu Bakrin-Ottun Sally in an interview confirmed that the
Permanent Secretaries earned salaries from their profession as well as
their present status.
