Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has directed a comprehensive audit of local government payrolls in the state, alongside the approval of an ₦85,000 minimum wage for local government workers. He gave the directive on Friday during the inauguration of the chairmen and members of the Local Government Service Commission and the Rivers State House of Assembly Service Commission at Government House in Port Harcourt.
Governor Fubara highlighted concerns about ghost workers and inflated staff lists within local government payrolls. He instructed the commission to collaborate with local government chairmen to eliminate these irregularities. “You must ensure that you support the Local Government chairmen to get rid of those fake names on the payroll,” he said, “so that when they implement the ₦85,000 minimum wage, it will not be too much burden on them.”
The Governor stressed that the audit should not target legitimate employees. “I am not saying you should go and dismiss people who are genuinely employed,” he clarified. “There must be proper scrutiny to be sure that whoever is there must be a genuine civil servant employed by the commission, and must have met all the conditions.”
In addition to the payroll reform, Governor Fubara directed the commission to address staff stagnation and ensure timely promotions and statutory advancements for eligible local government employees.
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