From: Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo
Chairman, Taraba State Civil Service Commission, Fidelis Kaigama, has said that the idea of godfatherism has destroyed the state civil service, thereby frustrating disciplinary measures from the commission.
Kaigama stated this, on Wednesday, in Jalingo, while fielding questions from journalists at an interactive session, a Face The Press.
According to Kaigama, there is so much indiscipline in the civil service but there is nothing the commission can do about it as every measure to discipline civil servants is met with stiff resistance from godfathers.
He said the system as a whole and not just the commission should be blamed for the systemic failure since the commission is just a part of the system and cannot operate in isolation.
“There is high indiscipline in the state civil service and the commission can not do anything about it because each time we try to discipline a staff, you have the godfathers come up against you with all forms of accusations and sentiments. This is very bad for the service since civil servants are the engine room of any government as they are the implementers of government policies.
“We know that the commission can not go and start disciplining civil servants in the ministries. It is the responsibility of those at the ministries to forward complaints of indiscipline to the commission for onward action. There was a time we got information that some persons stole Billions of public funds and while we were trying to dig into the case, they were all recalled to continue with their work as if nothing had happened” Kaigama lamented.
Kaigama who noted that there had been no official recruitment in the state civil service since creation in 1991, said that the situation has created a sustainability problem in the civil service that the state government in collaboration with the commission was working hard to correct the anomaly by recruiting new civil servants to rejuvenate the system.
On the issue of ghost workers, Kaigama regretted that the service is bedeviled by a large number of ghost workers making room for some persons to receive as much as hundred persons salaries, but assured that the government was working hard to fish them out, even though the ghost workers are also fighting back ferociously.
He also assured that the commission would ensure objective and thorough in screening the prospective civil servants in the next recruitment exercise to commence soon, to ensure even representation of the state and that only the best hands are recruited.