TheCable

The Enugu state government says public servants in the state are under surveillance due to a high level of corruption being unearthed in the service.

As a result, the state executive council has vowed to dismiss and or prosecute corrupt workers in the state.

Ogbuagu Anikwe, commissioner for information, disclosed this in Enugu on Saturday while briefing journalists on the outcome of the council meeting held on Friday evening.

Anikwe said the council took the stance following further fraud being unearthed among workers in the Post Primary School Education Management Board (PPSMB).

He said: “Government through its anti corruption measures has discovered another set of fraud relating to issues of ghost workers in PPSMB.

“The Chairman of the board, Mr Nestor Ezeme, had three months ago obtained the leave of the council to pay salaries directly to workers after which he had a leftover of N7 million in the first month.

“He thought it was an oversight and that those not paid would come to claim the sum but it continued for three months.”

The commissioner said the unclaimed N21 million that was saved in the three months since the exercise started had been returned to the state treasury.

“We now have a situation where Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi is very upset with the way public servants have carried on their responsibilities,” he said.

“Civil servants are now being put on the radar because we cannot be coming out every week to hear stories of how they are not doing their job and only interested in defrauding the state.”

Anikwe said the council had resolved that all the officers identified in the scam would be reported to anti corruption agencies for prosecution.

“The council has decided that all the officers so far identified will be queried and suspended for the period of investigation,” he said.

“They will eventually be taken to court or in some cases dismissed from the service.”

The commissioner said the chairman of the board has been mandated to find out the sum that the state government lost to the scam in the PPSMB.