Fubara Explains Payroll Verification Exercise, Says It Is Not Politically Motivated

Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has explained his administration’s decision to approve a comprehensive staff payroll verification exercise aimed at identifying “ghost” workers across the state’s 23 local government areas. Fubura spoke on Monday during the commissioning of the Omademe Internal Roads Project in Ikwerre Local Government Area of the state. The governor said the verification exercise and implementation of its recommendations were part of his administration’s efforts to promote fiscal discipline and ensure accountability within the public service. Addressing concerns over bloated payrolls at the local government level, Fubara said the issue had persisted for years, including before he assumed office, and needed to be tackled. According to him, the then Local Government Service Commission had already commenced work on the issue before the emergency rule in the state. He added that after returning from what he described as a “sabbatical leave” and with a new commission in place, he remained committed to resolving the problem. Fubara, who served as a Treasury Officer before venturing into politics, said he drew on his experience in public finance while overseeing the exercise. He added that ICT personnel were deployed to support the committee handling the verification. The governor stressed that the committee was expected to conduct the exercise objectively and with integrity, without political considerations. “It doesn’t matter whether the people are my supporters. It doesn’t matter whether they are people from the other side. Now there is no other side. We are all Rivers people. “I want to ensure that the right thing is done. I’m not against you being employed. But the issue is that if you have to be employed, you have to be employed through the proper channel. “So, anybody who is writing anything, saying that it has something to do politically, please desist from it. “Everything about this state mustn’t be tied to politics. It mustn’t be tied to myself and because of this and that. No. Please, at times, let’s be very objective and look beyond the issue of politics and look at the facts. “So, I want to say here that I approved the implementation of that recommendation and I stand by it,” he said. Fubara maintained that the exercise was intended to strengthen transparency and accountability in the local government system and ensure that public employment was conducted through the proper channels, rather than on political grounds.