Bayelsa loses N24bn yearly to payroll fraudsters —Dickson

 Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, says his administration loses about N24bn yearly to the activities of payroll fraudsters in the state.

Dickson also said that over N100bn had been paid by his government in the last four years on bonds and overpayments made to his predecessors.
He alleged that about N1.3bn went for bond deductions while more than N1bn was deducted for overpayments, amounting to about N2.5bn per month.

The fraudsters, Dickson claimed, had perfected their acts through collusion with some financial institutions in the state.

The governor made the revelation during an interview on state-owned radio, Glory FM, on Monday, in Yenagoa.

According to him, a cabal had over the years frustrated government’s efforts at sanitising civil servants’ payroll in the state.

The governor expressed his administration’s determination to clean up the payroll of the workers, noting that government had devised a system of monitoring the payment of salaries.

He maintained that all the heads of ministries, departments, agencies and school principals had been directed to prepare nominal rolls and payroll vouchers.

Dickson noted that various heads of MDAs and principals would now be held responsible for any issue arising from their financial documents.

While lamenting the steady decline of the state’s revenue from the Federation Account and the poor Internally Generated Revenue profile, Dickson said that the current system of payment of salaries was no longer sustainable.

He described the activities of the payroll fraudsters as a huge problem that had increased in proportion over the years.

On the payment of workers’ salaries, Dickson said his administration gave some options to labour leaders in the state, which included 70 per cent pro rata payment or 50 per cent across board for all civil servants.

On the ongoing strike by lecturers of the state-owned Niger Delta University, Amassoma, the governor said the NDU was also bedevilled by the problem of overblown workforce.

He claimed his government spends about N500m monthly as grant to the institution since 2012.

Dickson stated that the system whereby the university spends the entire amount on salary payment was unsustainable, urging the institution’s management to be more innovative in generating revenue.