Monday, June 24, 2024 –President Bola Tinubu has said that civil servants who relocated abroad but are still receiving salaries from the Federal coffers must be made to refund the money.
The President stated this at an event
organized by the office of the head of the civil service of the federation
(HOCSF) to mark the 2024 civil service week on Saturday, June 22.
Speaking at the vent, President Tinubu who
was represented by George Akume, secretary to the government of the federation
(SGF), directed that the heads and supervisors of the departments of such
workers must also be sanctioned.
“While I was away in South Africa, I
monitored some of the activities and especially read the shocking revelation by
the head of service about hundreds of workers who had relocated abroad, without
formally resigning their appointments and who were drawing salaries from the
treasury, for years.
Although, the head of service said some of
these fraudulent workers have been uncovered, she should not stop there.
The culprits
must be made to refund the money they have fraudulently collected. Their
supervisors and department heads must also be punished for aiding and abetting
the fraud under their watch. The Nigerian civil service cannot just be a
workplace where ‘anything is possible,’ where workers violate rules without the
fear of punishment or repercussion.
The civil
service of any nation is too important for such delinquent behaviour to take
root or be tolerated. The civil service is the bedrock, the engine, the
locomotive of government, which is necessary for the government to deliver
public goods to citizens.
As
politicians, we are no more than drivers of the locomotives that you provide.
Those who say that a nation is as good as its civil service are close to the
truth. You are the real establishment that remains to pilot government affairs
as we politicians come and go.
Over the
decades, successive governments initiated various national development plans
and programmes and all relied on the civil service to translate such plans into
high-impact programmes and projects across all sectors of the nation’s economy.
We expect you to do the same under our administration.
This is why we support building, nurturing, and empowering the human capital in the service. This is why there is a paramount need to enshrine a culture of professionalism and build confidence in civil servants.”he said
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