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From Tony John, Port Harcourt
Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has explained the approval by his administration for a comprehensive staff payroll verification exercise targeting “ghost” workers across the 23 Local Government Areas of the state.
The governor, who gave the explanation on Monday, during the commissioning of the Omademe Internal Roads Project in Ikwerre Local Government Area, said the approval of the verification exercise and implementation of report was borne out of the administration’s resolved to entrench fiscal discipline within the public service.
The issue of bloated salary payrolls at the local government level, Governor Fubara disclosed, had been a lingering challenge even before he assumed office, and there was the need to tackle it headlong.
According to Governor Fubara, the then Local Government Service Commission was already working on the issue before the unfortunate emergency rule in the state.
Fubara added that when he returned from the “sabbatical leave,” and a new Commission had been put in place, he was still determined to resolve the issue.
He said that having been a Treasury Officer before his venture into politics he ensured that he brought his wealth of experience and the deployment of ICT personnel to guide the committee on the assignment.
He noted that the committee was designed to handle the exercise with utmost objectivity and integrity, ensuring that the assignment was devoid of politics.
“It doesn’t matter whether the people are my supporters. It doesn’t matter whether they are people from the other side. Now there is no other side. We are all Rivers people. I want to ensure that the right thing is done.
“I’m not against you being employed. But the issue is that if you have to be employed, you have to be employed through the proper channel. So anybody who is writing anything , saying that it has something to do politically, please desist from it.
“Everything about this state mustn’t be tied to politics. It mustn’t be tied to myself and because of this and that. No.please, at times, let’s be very objective and look beyond the issue of politics and look at facts. So, I want to say here, that I approved the implementation of that recommendation and I stand by it,” he said.
Governor Fubara described the Omademe road project as part of his administration’s goal of opening up rural communities and linking them to other communities to enhance easy movement and boost economic activities.
He pledged that his administration would continue to do what is right and befitting for Rivers people until the last day in office.
“We want to say it publicly here that it’s not about the number of days, but what matters in the life of every administration is the value that is added. So, please, nobody should lose any hope. We will continue to add value till the last day.
“And who knows? God might have another different thing for us. So, please, I want everybody to cheer up. We are working as one now. Let us sustain that tempo for the good of Rivers State. That is where I stand, and I am not shifting grounds on that,”he said.
Governor Fubara also charged political leaders across the state to join hands with him in sustaining the prevailing peace and putting the past political crisis behind them.
“Just think of where we are coming from. Think of what has happened before. For me, I am not interested in going down that road anymore. What is behind me is behind me. What I am looking at is what is ahead of me. So, please, let’s look at what is ahead of all of us as a team, as a state, as part of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he said.
Earlier, the Rivers State Commissioner for Works, Prof. Temple Nwofor, had provided some insight into the road project. According to Nwofor, the contract for the internal roads was awarded to Setraco Construction Limited in February 2024, while work commenced in November 2024.
The project comprises 10 distinct internal roads spanning approximately 8.6 kilometres, complete with side drains and outfall discharge systems. It features a 100mm asphaltic layer, 8.7 kilometres of concrete side drains and a three-kilometre outfall drainage system designed to prevent localised flooding.
In an address, the Chairman of Ikwerre Local Government Area, Charles Wobodo, expressed appreciation to Governor Fubara for the infrastructure, but demanded that more road projects were needed to expand the road network in the council area.
