Ben Ayade, the governor of Cross River State, on Tuesday, February 9, 2021, charged the new head of service, Geraldine Akpet-Ekanem to flush out ghost workers from the system.
He gave the charge while swearing in the new Head of Service, Geraldine Akpet-Ekanem at the Executive Council Chambers, Governor’s office Calabar .
Ayade said: “Today is a special day because the head of administration of the government and bureaucracy of Cross River State is being made substantive.
“She is no other person but a very disciplined, highly professional lady, who from her citation has distinguished herself and has been an outstanding example of what a decent woman should be,” Ayade said.
Ayade charged Akpet-Ekanem to hit the ground running, reminding her that “as head of service, one of the greatest challenges before you is to fish out ghost workers.”
Disclosing the staggering figure he inherited as pension, amounting to about N340 million per month, the governor said he could not understand the increment.
His words: “Today that figure stands at about N740 million per month. I do not understand that increment of over N400 million especially when you juxtapose it with the fact that I met a civil service wage bill of about N1.2 billion rising to N1.6 billion and now standing at about N2.1 billion.
“It is expected that when pension is increasing, salary is supposed to be reducing.
“But to have an increase in the wage bill in terms of salaries, increase in pension, while the employment regime just accounts for less than N 200 million is difficult to understand. It really calls for a thorough investigation.
“So I implore you to use your professional and educational background as a trained lawyer, your-self discipline from the heritage of a decent family and check the level of manipulation of our payroll system,” the governor said.
Speaking further, he told Akpet-Ekanem that “as Head of Service, you have a very big challenge. Imprests are not being retired by ministries, simple impress and it’s a hell of a task for them to retire it and qualify for the next month.
“Personnel audit which is supposed to be a quarterly thing is not being done. What they rather do is every month, payment structure of November is transferred into December.” Ayade said.
Speaking shortly after her swearing in, the new Head of Service thanked the governor for the appointment, adding that the governor was a leader of conscience and a man with a good heart.
She said: ”His Excellency is a gender friendly governor for believing in me. He is indeed a leader of conscience and a man with a good heart.
“Your Excellency, I have heard your charge, I pledge to do all within my capacity to leave a positive mark in the civil service of Cross River State,” she said.
