Bayelsa releases funds for teachers’ salaries, decries ghost workers

— 3rd July 2016

BAYELSA State Govern­ment has expressed appreciation to teachers in the state for their co-operation during the on-going veri­fication exercise just as it decried the activities of ghost workers on its payroll.
The verification, it also said, was responsible for delay in the payment of the teachers, but would now start after the exercise.
In a statement signed by the Sec­retary to the State Government, Ser­ena-Dokubo Spiff, the government said that it has already released funds to start payment of teachers’ salaries. Payment of salaries will, howev­er, be done upon due verification of identity and status of every teacher.
He said that there were discrepan­cies and actual fraudulent activity in the payroll of the educational system in the state.
The statement noted, for instance, that while salary vouchers presented to government on the basis of which funds for salary payment were ap­proved and released are for a given amount, actual alerts received by the teachers are for lesser amounts.
Other instances, he said, were cas­es of ghost schools, ghost teachers, fraudulent increment and fraudu­lent designation of status/grade level, which the government claimed sug­gested criminal activity or interven­tion in the payment scheme.
The government, therefore, en­joined genuine teachers and other civil servants to help in uncovering such fraudulent activities, which was cited as the main cause of salary de­lay.
“It indicates that some persons with criminal intention are short-changing the system to the detri­ment of the state and those of honest, genuine teachers in the state. Mem­bers of the teaching staff who may be victims of the activities of these criminal gangs are advised to bring same to the attention of the authori­ties,” Dokubo-Spiff stated.
He restated the government’s committed to meet its obligations to teachers as soon as this evil prac­tice is rooted out and funds available for the purpose.- THE SUN