Dickson: Bayelsa Loses N12bn to Payroll Fraudsters Annually

• Dickson: Bayelsa Loses N12bn to Payroll Fraudsters Annually

As tensions continue to mount over attempts to hand over suspected payroll fraudsters in Bayelsa State to the security agencies for prosecution, the state Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson, revealed at the weekend that the state had been losing almost N1 billion monthly to the widespread scourge.

Speaking during the inauguration of newly-appointed Caretaker Committee Chairmen for all the local councils in the state in Yenagoa, Dickson said if no action was taken against the syndicate, the activities of the racketeers were capable of crumbling the state.

He said the government had established a judicial commission of inquiry into the massive fraud and had put the courts on the alert.

“We lose almost one billion naira per month to payroll fraud. We have to clean up this payroll mess. We have a little internally generated revenue, we have a difficult terrain, we have no support from the federal government.

“Even from corporate players who are milking us but are not helping us. I must also say that the courts are waiting, the judicial commission of inquiry is also waiting,” he said.

He lamented the rot in the local government system and explained that the committee on public service reforms was set up to prevent the pervasive financial haemorrhage in the state.

“The reforms we have programmed are aimed at stopping fraud at the local government areas, the local government areas have collapsed. We have set up committees to know why councils are not paying salaries.

“Local governments receive all their allocations and nobody tampers with them. You should take steps to eliminate this constant haemorrhage, all kinds of fictitious names, children unborn are receiving salaries,” he lamented.

Dickson assured the citizens that no innocent person would be affected in the ongoing efforts to purge the public service of the corruption which he said had held down the state for years.

Elaborating on the planned series of actions to drastically block the leakages, Commissioner for Information, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, urged the people of the state to support the government to implement the reports of the various committees.

“We all want the reforms to work and their objectives achieved. That is what is driving the governor who initiated the process. Is it conceivable to have the same names occurring in different state agencies and you continue paying salary to one man in three agencies? That cannot be,” he said.