Nasarawa State government has suspended about 62 directors across the 13 local government areas in the state with immediate effect, over the inflation of salary figures from 700 million Naira to 1.3 billion Naira.
Governor Abdullahi Sule, through the Commissioner, Ministry for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Yusuf Turaki, made this known in Lafia, the state capital.
Turaki said the directive of the state government came through the Local Government Service Commission that all Directors of Personnel Management, DPMS, and Directors of Finance and Supplies, DFS, of all the 13 local government areas be suspended for a period of three months to allow an investigation into the matter.
The Commissioner explained that the council officials were suspended for refusal to work with the directives of the committees set up by the government to investigate the suspected fraud and the over 600 million Naira high wage bills claimed to have been incurred by the local governments.
He said the investigating team will also look into the issues of illegal employments in local governments from 2012 to 2020, hinting that anyone who got in through the back door and did not follow due process will be sacked.
Turaki said it is worrisome that local government council salaries skyrocketed from 700 million Naira to 1.3 billion Naira in 2020, despite the fact that there were no new employments, promotions, and some persons either died or retired between the period of 2012 to 2020.
