Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State has directed local government chairmen to stay in their respective areas and sign attendance registers four times daily to prove their presence.
Zulum gave the directive on Monday in Maiduguri at the swearing-in ceremony of the 27 elected council chairmen.
The Governor directed the Ministry for Local Government to immediately deploy biometric data capture machines to council areas for chairmen to thumbprint daily at 8am, noon, 2pm and 3:30pm.
He said that the measure became necessary to check absenteeism or absconding from work by any chairman without genuine reason, adding: “Abscondment remains an impeachment offence.
“We have advised chairmen, time without number, but the advice had not been adhered to strictly.
“We have now designed a measure to ensure their presence, which is very important.”
Zulum added that with improved security in the state, the council chairmen needed to be with their people to support his administration’s commitment to rehabilitation, reconstruction and resettlement of displaced persons.
While urging them on prudent management of scarce resources, Zulum tasked the new chairmen to ensure spread of development projects across communities in their areas.
He also tasked them with working closely with security personnel in consolidating peace and the return of civil authority in their areas.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the governor also presided over the swearing-in ceremony of seven Permanent Secretaries and 29 Special Advisers.
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