Ondo has yet to fire employees charged with receiving double salaries

Two months after Governor Rotimi Akeredolu ordered the dismissal of some Ondo state government employees accused of receiving double pay, the department head has yet to carry out the directive.< /p>

PREMIUM TIMES has learned that the indicted personnel, whose names have not been made public, continued their duties in their respective offices.

Their activities came to light after a report by a panel on auditing and cleaning up state employees' payrolls was submitted to the governor.

The report indicates a loss of about 500 million naira for ghost workers since Mr Akeredolu took office.

The governor set up the committee upon taking office in his second term on suspicion that the state payroll, including salaries and pensions, had been compromised.

The committee, headed by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Victor Olajorin, delivered its report in July this year.

Other committee members were Tope Popoola, Hadj Badmos, Ola Obaado, Bola Taiwo, Kayode Edema and Lawrence Akintunde.

According to Mr. Olajorin, the committee discovered that there were workers earning double wages, and some retirees were still earning their normal wages on top of their pension.

Unhappy with the findings, Mr. Akeredolu ordered the department head to fire the officers involved.

He denounced the numerous violations and the overloaded workforce caused by the presence of ghost workers.

Investigations, however, revealed that after the order to fire the workers, no one lost their job in the state civil service because of the crime.

The state government also kept the identities of the culprits secret.

Sources close to the state civil service said there was no apprehension within the service regarding the act for which a dismissal order had been issued.

"Issues like this are very sensitive when it comes to public service," said a source, who would not like to be named.

"It looks like the matter will be allowed to drag on until the governor's term expires and nothing will be done about it. It's the government."

Necessary procedures

However, Information Commissioner Bamidele Ademola-Olateju said the department head had started the process of dismissing the affected workers.

She noted that "necessary procedures" should be followed before the layoffs are implemented.

"They weren't fired," she said.

According to her, certain procedures must be followed and the process has begun for the culprits.

“The outcome of the process already in place will determine whether any prosecutions will be pursued,” she added.

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