By Rita Elenwo
Hundreds of civil servants from the 36 states of Nigeria who said they have been stranded at the Public Service Institute in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) over the failure of the verification portal to verify their appointments are lamenting the suspension of their salaries by the federal government.
The civil servants also lamented that they have been visiting the institute since Monday as instructed so that they can get their appointments verified for their suspended salaries to be reactivated but to no avail.
The affected civil servants from Grade Level 7 to Directorate level, who were visibly exhausted at the premises of the institute laminated that their salaries have been suspended since September, while some said that their salaries were suspended from June till date.
A senior civil servant, Mr Wunuji Tsokwa lamented that he has not committed any offence, nor has he been given any query, but his salary has been suspended.
“We are in a very serious confusion now. See all the pregnant women, all of them are here and they slept in the rain yesterday.
“We came from all over the 36 states of the federation. We have been invited for verification and I don’t know when it will end and we don’t know if the Head of Service has provided our DTA for this assignment.
“We officially know that if there is an assignment of this nature, there should be a provision for it. Also, we do not know the reason for the suspension of their salaries.
“We are now in October, the suspension started in September, while some started in June and we do not know how long it would take,” he said.
Another civil servant, Ephraim Ishiaku explained that his salary was suspended in June and since then, no concrete reason has been given to him for the suspension.
“They only said that it is because civil servants have not done verification online. Where the portals are not readily available for us to do a complete verification, out rightly they have gone beyond the civil service handbook or public service rules to suspend.
“When they have not reported me to the Civil Service Commission for me to answer for any offence I have committed.
“The verification was supposed to start on Monday, but no provision was made for us for accommodation, feeding, and others. Officially, that should have been done and nobody is saying anything,” he said.
A senior civil servant among the verification officials at the public service institute who preferred anonymity explained that the affected civil servants’ salaries were stopped because they were not captured on the portal and did not do the online registration.
“The portal was reopened and they went. They did their registration and after they were instructed to bring their documents for citing, that is the verification. This exercise is very necessary to rid civil service of ghost workers.
“It is very necessary. Because that was how we got ghost workers’ last time. It is a very vigorous exercise and it is very important.
“You know most people change their date of birth so that they do not retire on time, we need to verify all those things. So, they have to be patient with us,” he said.
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