80 Civil Servants Fired In Niger

Niger State Government on Thursday announced the sacking of 80 civil servants across various cadres for alleged salary scam running into millions of naira.

The dismissed civil servants, GIOTV gathered, are drawn from Various Ministries, Department, and Agencies of the state government.

They were allegedly found culpable in the ongoing salary verification exercise by the state government.

Governor Abubakar Bello approved the sacking of the workers at the state’s executive council meeting in Minna on Wednesday.

Niger State Head of Service, Hajiya Salamatu Abubakar, noted that all the affected workers would soon get their dismissal letters.

According to her, all the indicted civil servants made confessional statements before the state salary audit committee and their respective ministries, Department, and Agencies on their roles of adding ghost names to the state payroll to paying themselves salaries and allowances they were not qualified for.

She added, “There was an instance where a messenger in the State Judicial Service was found to be collecting the salary of a High Court Judge, it is as bad as that.

“Also, a civil servant was also impersonating the Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Haruna Dukku, and collecting his salary, making it look as if he was earning a double salary. What will he tell EFCC after leaving office if such an individual was not apprehended?”

Giving a breakdown of the number of affected civil servants, the Head of a service said “the state Hospital management board has a total of 45 personnel found to be involved in the salary racketeering syndicate.

“In the state judiciary, comprising Sharia courts, Magistrate and High courts officials, 22 personnel are indicted, while primary Health Care Development Agency – three, Ministry of Health – seven, Ministry of Education – one and School of Midwifery Minna has two persons found culpable during the salary audit.”