The Rivers State Government says it saved over N130 million in the month of March from payment of salaries and allowances to staff not entitled to such payments.

The Head of Service (HoS), Barrister Samuel LongJohn disclosed this at a meeting he held with members of the Committee on Salary Verification, Permanent Secretaries, Directors of Finance and Accounts, Directors of Administration and Pay Roll officers in Port Harcourt.

Barrister LongJohn, who described the situation as very grave, said if nothing was done, a time might come when government might not be able to pay salaries as and when due, adding that a committee had been set up to look into the matter.

He noted that on completion of the work of the committee, the savings would be far higher than what had been realised.

The Head of Service cited instances where some staff who are supposed to earn N160,000 earn up to N500,000 monthly, stressing that the problem could only be solved by being directly involved in the preparation of nominal rolls such as permanent secretaries, who are the accounting officers, directors of finance and accounts, and directors of administration.

Barr LongJohn said Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) would now be directly involved in salary preparations, emphasising that nominal rolls originated by the MDAs would be countersigned by the accounting officers to confirm their authenticity.

“You know very well that the payroll starts with the nominal roll. If your nominal roll is correct, the payroll will be correct, but if your nominal roll is not correct, there is no way the payroll would be correct,” he pointed out.

The Head of Service challenged any staff who claimed that his/her salaries or allowances have been reduced, saying, the necessary refund would be made if found to be true.

The meeting which involved an interactive session, was attended by the Account-General of the state, Sir Ngozi Abu.

The Head of Service also met with registrars and bursars of state-owned tertiary institutions where he also explained the situation on ground, and directed them to submit copies of salary structures used in computing their salaries as well as other related documents.

It would be recalled that the Head of Service had in February, this year, set up a 21-member salary verification committee to determine, among other things, the validity of the various salary structures used in payroll preparation, whether they are correctly applied to the various cadres they relate to, as well as the accuracy of the nominal rolls prepared by the MDAs.