Bauchi State Suspends Top Local Government Officials Over Salaries and Pension Payments Issues.

Bauchi State Government has suspended all directors of its Primary Healthcare, Education Secretaries and their Treasurers in the 20 local government areas over lack of Bank Verification Number (BVN) in salaries and pension payments.

The suspension was made known in a statement by the commissioner for Information and Communication, Dr. Ladan Salihu. The statement directed all suspended staff to hand over to their immediate subordinates.

According to the statement, the state government finds it inconceivable that no fewer than 41,000 civil servants on the government payroll in the administration of salaries and pension in the state and local government are without BVN. The figure according to Salihu, represents more than 41% of the state’s workforce.

The State said, “Consequently, government hereby directs that with effect from the date of this statement, all local government education secretaries and their treasurers, all directors of primary healthcare in the 20 LGAs are suspended from office. They are to handover to their immediate subordinates. “Government wishes to convey to the public that this suspension is to ensure that the on-going investigation into the matter is not compromised.

“Furthermore, the state government has directed that salaries meant for the 41,488 names on the payroll without BVN be warehoused by the state’s accountant general pending further investigation. Available records indicate that some civil servants are hurriedly rushing to the banks to secure BVN in order to cover their tracks. For the avoidance of doubt, all BVN’s issued within the period of this exercise will not be entertained by the government until the final outcome of the on-going investigation determine or authentic their status.”