The Bayelsa State Government says it owes nobody any apologies for removing ghost names from the “over-bloated payroll” in the state.
The state’s Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, stated this at the Oporoma, headquarters of the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area during the grand finale of a grassroots sensitization programme on the state government’s public sector reforms on Monday.
Mr. Iworiso-Markson, who described the various town hall meetings as huge successes, said the strong support expressed by the people would give government the needed impetus to drive the reform process to success.
He reiterated that no amount of blackmail would truncate the process stressing that those crying foul over the reforms are people who were benefiting from the bastardized public service being rescued by the government through the reforms.
While reassuring genuine workers of improved welfare, he debunked rumours making the rounds that government would scrap the Rural Development Authorities (RDAs) established by previous administration.
His words, “There is no such plan. We have repeatedly assured our genuine workers that the reforms would not adversely affect any of them. But it’s a human system, so if any one of them is inadvertently affected in any way, he or she should approach the complaints desk.
“And I can assure you that the mistake will be rectified immediately. That is the directive from His Excellency, the Governor. But for those workers, who came into the service through the back door and those of them who used fake certificates, we have no apology for removing their names from the payroll because it’s the right thing to do.