The Gombe State Government, Northern Nigeria, says it has saved 57.68 million Naira from the suspension of civil servants in the month of September, through the implementation of the State Integrated Payroll Payment Gateway and Human Resource Management Information System Programme in the State.
Addressing journalists in Gombe on the details of the programme in September, the Commissioner of Finance and Economic Development, Mr. Muhammad Magaji, said in September 2021, that the grand total of staff suspended and those to be investigated, stood at 901, with salaries of 77 million 340 thousand 484 naira 19 kobo.
He said out of this number, 170 of them, with salaries of 19.66 million Naira, would be investigated, but that their September salaries would be paid to them.
According to him, civil servants who were suspended previously, but had presented their complaints and proof about being wrongfully suspended, had their issues rectified and reabsorbed into the system.
The Gombe State Commissioner of Finance said so far, the government had concluded the Biometric enrolment in ten out of 11 local government areas of the state, with Funakaye Local Government Staff now being enrolled.
He said after the completion of the enrolment in Funakaye, the government would hold a mop-up enrolment, to give room for those not yet enrolled to do so, otherwise, enrolment would be closed and those yet enrolled would have to wait until a time when the Gombe State Civil Service decided to employ new staff.
In the meantime, the Head of the Gombe State Civil Service, Mr Bappayo Yahaya, has advised civil servants to ensure that they abide by the set guidelines of the system by reporting on duty on time and closing at the stipulated time to avoid being negatively affected by the strict measures put in place by the government.
Mr. Bappayo said the Biometric Attendance System was here to stay because a team from the company responsible for the supply and installation of the biometric machines was in the state to check the condition of the machines and where necessary, take note of faults and improve on them for enhanced service delivery.
It will be recalled that the Gombe State Government adopted the Biometric Attendance Programme so as to checkmate the excesses of the civil servants in the state, some of were of the habit of abandoning their duties post or not even appearing at all, but always collecting salaries at the end of the month.
According to the government, the initiative will ensure that the governments at both state and local government areas take stock of civil servants through the installed machines, which register staff daily, verify their fingerprints and facial descriptions, and finally authenticate their attendance.
The government said the objective of the biometric attendance programme was to help reduce and subsequently eliminate payroll fraud.
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