Governor Abba Kabir-Yusuf of Kano State on Friday ordered an investigation into the alleged deduction of N1.5 billion from workers’ funds by the former Head of Service, Abdullahi Musa.
The governor gave the directive during the Workers’ Day celebration while responding to allegations raised by the chairman of the Kano State chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Kabiru Inuwa.
Mr Yusuf said he has directed the secretary of the Kano State government, SSG, Umar Faruq-Ibrahim, to set up a committee to investigate the allegation.
He vowed that the government would take drastic measures against anyone found culpable and ensure the money is refunded.
“I heard the chairman in his speech commenting on an allegation that the former head of service has expended some amount of money running into N1.5 billion.
“Immediately, I heard this. I summoned the SSG and directed that an investigative committee should immediately be constituted to look into those allegations.
“I want to assure you that if anybody is found to be involved, the government is going to take very drastic action to ensure that monies are refunded,” he said.
The governor said the government settled N32 billion out of the N48 billion outstanding backlog of gratuity and death benefits it inherited.
He promised to offset the remaining balance of N16 billion before the end of his administration.
“I inherited a backlog of gratuities and benefits amounting to over 48 billion, as was said by the Nigerian Labour Congress chairman during his speech.
“Let me say that this placed immense hardship on retirees and the families of the decent workers, and as the chairman enumerated, through deliberate and sustained effort, we have so far settled a sum of N32 billion out of the total of N48 billion.
“We are also committed by the grace of Allah to clearing the balance within the lifespan of this administration,” he said.
He said his administration has also established key institutions to improve the welfare and professional development of civil servants.
“The creation of the Local Government Service Commission has ensured that the careers of local government employees are now aligned with the standards and progressions obtainable in other chains of the public service.
“We have also enhanced the welfare of retirees by increasing the minimum pension from 5,000 to 20,000, a development that has significantly improved the living conditions of our senior citizens over the past several months,” he added.
Earlier, the NLC chairman, Kabiru Inuwa, had appealed to the state government to investigate an allegation making the rounds alleging N1.5 billion against the former head of state.
Mr Inuwa also appealed to the government to address the disparity in salaries between local and state government workers to boost workers’ morale and uphold the principle of equality.
(NAN)
