Gov. Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State has warned government officials against financial misconduct to encourage accountability and good governance in the state.
Mohammed gave the warning at the inauguration of a three-day workshop on accountability and good governance for members of the State Executive Council (SEC), special advisers, permanent secretaries and local councils chairmen, on Tuesday in Bauchi.
The workshop was organised by the office of the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Ibrahim Kashim.
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According to him, anyone caught in the act of financial misconduct will be seriously dealt with.
The governor, represented by his deputy, Alhaji Baba Tela, said that his administration had pledged to rid corrupt tendencies to move the state forward.
“Let me use this opportunity to remind participants in this workshop that our government has zero-tolerance for financial mismanagement and self-enrichment.
“It is no longer business as usual, anyone caught in the act of financial misconduct will be dealt with in accordance with the laid down rules and regulations.
“As a government, we want a clean break from the past corrupt tendencies so that funds will be free to provide infrastructural facilities and social amenities to the people,” he said.
Mohammed said that the workshop was aimed at improving the capacity of participants to operate the machinery of government towards meeting the yearnings and aspirations of the people.
He, however, urged the participants to listen attentively to the presentations by resource persons and participate actively in subsequent discussions to derive maximum benefits from the exercise.
Earlier, Kashim said that the workshop was a combination of the exercises conducted by Dugge Management Services Ltd., which led to the appointment of most of the participants, especially permanent secretaries having passed the tests and interviews.
He said that the state government had transmitted a Pension Reform Bill to the House of Assembly, adding that the Bill would soon be passed to solve pension issues.
“One of the issues bedevilling the civil service is pension and gratuity. There is a Bill before the House of Assembly which ought to solve that problem.
“We are sure that the Bill which is going to introduce contributory pension for the first time in the state will be passed by the house and it will surely be assented to by the governor.
“This is important because for the first time in the history of Bauchi State, government employees will know how much they earn as their pensions,’’ he said.
Kashim ssid that a lot of states and the federal government had implemented pension contribution scheme, adding the scheme helped the later to completely solve challenges associated with pensions. (NAN)
