The Plateau State Government has sacked no fewer than 532 workers over alleged falsified documents.
The State Governor, Simon Lalong, disclosed this on Tuesday at the closing ceremony of Policy Retreat for the state Permanent Secretaries at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), in Kuru, Plateau State.
He said, “Already, about 532 names have been removed from government payroll after an investigation using the Bank Verification Number (BVN) system, revealed inconsistencies in their records.
“Some had falsified their ages or tampered with their records. Others could not appear to answer queries on such records.
“We shall ensure that all of them are properly investigated and made to face appropriate sanctions. This exercise will be a continuous one.
“It is in realization of the fact that you need to invigorate your capacity for creativity, productivity and also strengthen ability for effective and robust service delivery, that I approved for this policy retreat to hold.
“This policy retreat was also carefully planned to expand your horizon through strategic thinking, improved competencies, and development of innovative ways, especially in this era of COVID-19 where many things have been affected.
“We are today facing continuous decline in revenue from Federal Accounts Allocation Committee, which makes it very necessary to generate more revenue internally to meet the yearnings of the people.
“This means that we must prioritize spending on areas that will yield revenues in all our Ministries Department and Agencies, and also block leakages in the system.
“You have a very crucial role to play in this regard and you cannot afford to fail.”
The governor, however urged the participants to be proficient in Information Communication and Technology (ICT) and that he would not tolerate promotion of ethnicity, religion or politicizing the civil service, pointing out that the act could ruin governance, truncate service delivery, professionalism and competence.