Bauchi Gov Bemoans High Wage Bill, Despite Not Employing New Workers

Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi

Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Mohammed, has lamented the increasing wage bill despite the state not employing new workers over the years.

The governor was speaking at the weekend during the closing ceremony of the three-day retreat organised by the state government through the office of Head of Civil Service (HoS), for political office holders on how to improve their performances in running the affairs of government towards actualising the ‘Bauchi Project’ vision of Governor Mohammed-led administration.

THISDAY learnt that the retreat was organised in collaboration with the Office of Secretary to the State Government (SSG) to examine the success and challenges recorded during the first term of the governor’s administration with a view to proffering solutions in order to move on in his second term.

The governor regretted that despite the migration of workers who retired to pension platforms, the nominal roll is increasing.

He said: “Of course, somebody has just spoken about the nominal roll; the nominal roll is developed by the service, and we the politicians are frustrated. Anytime I see the AccountantGeneral, it stresses me, and even when he was talking he was stressing me because I didn’t understand what he was saying. People are retiring, they are migrating to pension platforms but the salaries and portfolio are increasing, and we are not employing, and nobody will come and give me any explanation as to what is happening.”

The governor added that “Yesterday, Ishaku spoke very well, and this is a challenge to our civil service and our political appointees, all of us, including the new commissioners, are to drive the nominal roll, and we have to get tangible and measurable savings from the salary portfolio otherwise we cannot get money to employ people.”

Mohammed said the people have been hinted that over ten thousand of them would be employed, lamenting that the service no longer have the technical people, the engineers, the accountants as well as the administrative officers.

“They are all gone, even our extension workers are not there; how do we progress? Our education system is producing graduates and we are not absorbing them; our system is very poor and yet we sit here and delude and deceive ourselves, paying six to seven billion naira monthly while not employing,” the governor lamented.

 Governor Mohammed, who urged the need for a change of mindset towards public service, also regretted that people believe they will sit down in their offices and get a double salary.

He further said: “I have studied very well, our system is rotten, and we try to eat what we cannot afford. Somebody has spoken about education, but how many of us take our children to government schools, even though they have teachers, they have everything? In some primary schools, you don’t even have the teachers on reality checks but on paper, you have so many of them, so we have to change.”