By Amos Igbebe
Public servants in Delta who were involved in fraud in the discharge of their civil duties have been charged to court and may face imprisonment should the court found them guilty of the corruption charges against them at the end of the exercise.
This is part of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s resolve to fight corruption and rescue the state from sharp practices which has become prevalent among civil servants, especially the ghost workers syndrome.
The state governor made the revelation during the swearing in of members of the Civil Service Commission and members of the State Board of Internal Revenue in Asaba, the Delta State capital on Wednesday.
Although Okowa did not name the category of public servants involved, nor their offices, he warned public servants to avoid corrupt practices, saying anyone caught and found guilty would face the sledge hammer of the law.
“We will not fail to sanction any public official who is found wanting in the discharge of his duty or misappropriates public funds. Some civil servants are already in court because of fraud and as a politician, if you are caught, don’t run to me because that may be the last time I may want to see your face,” he added.
The Governor disclosed that his administration took time to constitute the boards because the two agencies are critical to the success of the administration of government.
“They will play critical roles in building a new Delta predicated on the principles of problem solving, resource optimization and purposeful leadership,” Okowa said.
Former members of the Civil Service Commission were put on suspension early this year by the previous administration of Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan following allegations of massive fraud in the botched recruitment exercise into the state civil service, while the Delta Board of Internal Revenue was dissolved at the emergence of the Okowa’s government.
He frowned at situation where there is less than 20 per cent compliance level in revenue generation from the informal sector, saying “currently, over 80 per cent of our internally generated revenue comes from the formal sector which translates to less than 20 per cent compliance level because the informal sector, which constitutes over 80 per cent of the economy, has not been effectively captured in the tax net.”
He said the utmost priority of the new board must be on how to bring the informal sector into the tax net, noting that “payment of tax is not only a civic responsibility, but constitutionally binding on every Nigerian, “and I want to assure all Deltans that this administration is committed to ensuring that every kobo in the coffers of the state will be judiciously spent to positively impact the lives of the citizenry”.
The Governor emphasized that the civil service as the vehicle for the implementation of government programmes, policies and projects, “must function to change the fortunes of Deltans,” just as he challenged the civil service commission “to come up with creative solutions to the evils of absenteeism, godfatherism, corruption, nepotism, eye service, waste and inefficiency that have bedeviled the civil service system in the state.”
