Workers in Jigawa worry about verification exercise’s deadline

By Hannah Nathan, Warri

Jigawa State civil servants are worried about the deadline set by the state government to wrap up the ongoing verification process.

This followed after the Jigawa State Ministry of Finance’s public relations officer, Magaji Abdullahi, signed a statement from the state government announcing the date the verification exercise would conclude.

“This is to inform the general public that the round off of staff verification exercise has begun on Monday, November 13, 2023, and will run through Saturday, November 18, 2023, from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm daily at the Ministry of Finance conference Hall,” the statement stated.

“Other staff who are not verified are urged to ensure that they are verified within the stipulated period because there is no extra time and any staff who is not verified consider himself as a ghost worker”

In response to the announcement, Mallam Auwalu, a classroom teacher, stated that the state government should think about extending worker’s verification exercise.

Approximately 70% of classroom teachers, in his estimation, are unverified.

“In my opinion, Jigawa State schools ought to be closed for a week in order to allow instructors to go to Dutse for confirmation. This is due to the fact that over 70% of teachers in Jigawa State’s basic and senior secondary schools lack verification. Additionally, the verification process will conclude on November 28, 2023.

“As stated in the announcement, the Jigawa State Ministry of Finance is still the only authorized center for verification. Therefore, I believe that the only option available to teachers to safeguard their jobs against being phantom employees.
“The deadline given by the state Ministry of Finance to civil servants who missed the verification exercise has caused controversy among defaulters,” stated Ahmad Ilallah, a different civil servant.

“From start to finish, the exercise revealed numerous anomalies; the majority of the civil servants were unconfirmed.

“The company was given a contract to meet the civil servants at their various places of work but they failed to do so

“It is not the fault of the civil servants because those who are carrying out the exercise did not do it as planned, therefore they must go back and complete their work.”

According to reports, a verification official was detained by the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) for allegedly extorting money from civil servants in the name of the verification.