Twenty civil servants in the Ondo State Civil Service have been placed on indefinite suspension and awaiting prosecution by the the state government for alleged fraudulent practices, bothering on employment racketeering, embezzlement, inflation of government payroll, among other sundry accusations.
One them, names withheld, A civil servant was alleged to have ’employed’ his wife and placed her on Grade Level 14.
The wife, who has been collecting salary as a Grade Level 14 officer, was said not to have attended any interview, neither was the state government aware of her employment.
Senior Special Assistant to Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu on Special Duties, Doyin Adebowale, disclosed this when he paraded the 25 civil servants, who, according to him, were caught for various offences including: stealing millions of naira, employment racketeering and inclusion of fictitious names in the payroll of the state government.
He revealed that a staff of the State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB, was also suspended for allegedly stealing the sum of N104 million from the coffers of the Board.
Odebowale disclosed that the suspended civil servants would be prosecuted and severely dealt with.
Explaining that they were caught due to reforms carried out by the Head of Service, HoS, Mr. Alex Aragbaye, Odebowale said, “We are here because of certain suspects the governor directed that we prosecute.
“In the civil service there has been this stealing going on undetected. They do it in several ways, especially through staff list.
“We have people that imputed fictitious figures into the payroll. When the new HoS got into office, he put in place certain reforms to make us know those in actual service.
“We were able to discover that certain elements, whose names appear on staff list, were never employed. A particular man employed his wife and placed her on level 14. She never attended interview and she has been collecting salaries.
“One of them moved N104 million out of SUBEB account. We have other instances of other millions of naira moved. These were pure stealing. They have been suspended. They will be prosecuted and made to face disciplinary measures.”
