Lawyer, Femi Emodamori lauds Akeredolu for sacking ‘fraudulent’ Workers
AKEREDOLU’S DIRECTIVE TO SACK WORKERS INVOLVED IN PAYROLL PADDING; A POSITIVE STEP IN FIGHTING INSTITUTIONALIZED FRAUD; A PRESS STATEMENT BY BARR FEMI EMMANUEL EMODAMORI.
I commend Governor Rotimi Akeredolu for his bold declaration that workers who collect double or multiple salaries on the Ondo State payroll, and those siphoning the State resources using ghost workers who were exposed in the recent report of the State staff-audit and verification, should be sacked. It is however not enough to sack them.
I urge Mr. Governor to direct the State Attorney-General to assemble the best team of lawyers in the Ondo State Ministry of Justice, to immediately commence the prosecution of the culprits of the institutionalized fraud and the recovery or restitution of the hundreds of millions they had siphoned from the Government over the years.
We have heard too much monotonous lullaby in the past about staff-audits and alleged discovery of hundreds of thousands of ghost workers fraudulently injected into Government’s payrolls, especially at the Federal Government level.
It is a known fact that some people collect and convert the supposed salaries, allowances and gratuities of the ghost or non-existent workers. Their salaries are paid into known bank accounts that are easily traceable through Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs).
Most often however, the alleged discovery of the monumental payroll fraud and padding is the end of the story. No arrest; no prosecution and no restitution by the crime syndicate.
This often leads to the suspicion that some powerful and untouchable persons within the system are part of such payroll padding syndicate.
By directing that those involved in the payroll fraud should be sacked, Governor Akeredolu has taken a step further in enforcing the provision of S. 15(2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), which states that “The State shall abolish all corrupt practices and abuse of power”.
Signed:
Femi Emmanuel Emodamori
(An Akure-based Legal Practitioner)
22nd July, 2022.
