Governor detects fraudulent deduction of workers’ salary

The Governor of Niger State, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, on Wednesday decried the level of deduction in the salaries of civil servants in the state.

Bello said it was a deliberate fraudulent action and a sabotage of his government.

Declaring the 13th Niger State National Trade Fair open in Minna, Bello condemned the deduction of workers salaries to the tune of N10,000 and N20,000 by what is claimed to be system failure.

Bello vowed to punish whoever is involved in the act of depriving workers of their hard earned money, stressing that his government will have zero tolerance for corruption.

According to him: “It has come to my notice that the salaries of civil servants in Niger State, which was paid on Monday, had shortfalls of N10,000 and N20,000 in some cases.

“This is an unfortunate situation, which sounds and appears to me like a deliberate fraudulent action.”

The governor, who expressed doubt over the speculation that the development may be as a result of system failure, disclosed that he had set up a panel to look into the issue and report to him by Tuesday next week.

He said: “There are insinuations that it could be system failure, which has reduced workers salaries.

“Be that as it may, I have directed the Secretary to the State Government to set up a panel with immediate effect to investigate what actually happened and report back to me by Tuesday.

“I do hope and pray it is truly a system mistake, but if it is someone’s effort to deprive the workers of their salaries, whoever is involved will be severely punished.”

It should be noted that the 36 states governors had, last week, met with President Muhammadu Buhari with a plea to reimburse them for funds spent on federal projects in their states as a palliative to cushion their hardship and enable them pay salaries.

Bello said: “I have resolved to move Niger State forward and change the ways of the past.

“Whoever wants to fill up his pocket and is caught, will suffer for it.”

Bellofurther warned government workers determined to make money to do so in a legitimate way, declaring that it is a crime to shortchange civil servants due to the desire to make more money.

He said: “‎If you are a government worker and you want to make money, you can start your company or business and make legitimate money, but if you use your position to fill up your pockets, you will face the music if I catch you.”

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