Despite the rigorous work so far carried out by the Heckerbella, the consultancy firm engaged by the immediate past administration of Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan and bequeathed to Senator (Dr) Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa to identify, authenticate Public servants and automate the public service payroll through a structured Time and Attendance System (BIPATAS), after one year in office, Okowa, could not tell Deltans the present strength of the state workforce giving room to Deltans to doubt his credibility.
It is an open secret that the state parades a workforce between 66, 000 and 68, 000, however, after eight years of Dr. Uduaghan and one year into Dr. Okowa’s administration, the ongoing Biometric exercise been carried out on civil servants in the state, Uduaghan’s successor could not state whether the workforce was declining or increasing.
Speaking with journalists during his one year in office, Okowa disclosed that he lacks knowledge of the present strength of the state workforce, “I will tell you that at as this morning, I cannot definitely tell you the staff strength because the work is still ongoing. You talked about Heckerbella doing her work, we came in and met the staff strength between 66, 000 and 68, 000 workforce, though I am not very certain about the number”.
Okowa who lamented over the huge number of staff in the system made a comparison between Edo and Delta State, “And that obviously is very huge. I will give an example, comparing ourselves with the neighbouring Edo State, they have a staff strength of about 21, 000 that eventually dropped down to 19, 000. So, if Edo State have a staff strength of 19, 000 and we are running a staff strength of 66, 000 there is definitely some cause to worry”.
Okowa who claimed that the state was not embarking on the biometrics for the purpose of retrenchment said, “However, we are not undergoing our biometrics for the fact that we think we need to retrench workers, that is far out of it. But what we seek to do is to ensure that only those who are working are paid”, pointing out that a lot of people are not in the country but they find their names on the state’s payroll while so many other persons who are working elsewhere also they find their names on the payroll.
“Unfortunately, even within the same government system, you find out that some people work with the state government and also with the federal government”, quoting the immediate past Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Alkali Usman Baba, the governor said, “Very recently, a policeman, the CP told me this, that they find out that one of their policeman at the point of promotion, was also a staff of the Delta State government. It is very unfortunate thing that can happen. Of course, that policeman is losing his job and he will also lose his job with the Delta State government”.
Speaking further, Okowa said, “A lot of people who are dead, have been on our salary payroll and that we did found out in the Post Primary Education Board and it is also possible that same thing is going on within the MDAs”.
“So, there are so many issues that are very disturbing and my appeal has continuously be with those who work, that in our best interest, fish out these people, make known people who are in this sharp practices because the fewer the number of genuine workers, the more likely the fact that we are able to sustain the payment of salaries particularly at this very trying time. So, we need the corporation of all and until Heckerbella finishes its work, I will now have a clean payroll. I may not be able as at today tell you the number of persons in our workforce”, he reiterated.
The BIPATAS is an initiative of the Delta State Government to identify, authenticate Public servants and automate the public service payroll system through a structured Time & Attendance System.
In order to achieve this goal, each Delta State Public servant is required to register online to provide certain basic information. The main categories to be completed during the online registration contain some MANDATORY information which need to be provided before online registration can be successful.
Some examples include: Personal Details, Height (In metres), Blood Type, Educational History; Primary School Leaving Certificate, SSCE / WAEC, Employment Record Details; Date of Employment, Date of Confirmation of Appointment, Bank Account Details; Bank Name, Account Number, Pay Point and National Identification Number (NIN – NIMC).
