Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, has charged an eight-member Local Government Service Commission to among other duties, sanitise the administration of the third tier of government in the State.
Governor Seriake Dickson, who performed the swearing-in ceremony in the Government House, Yenagoa, particularly stressed the need for the Commission to tackle the issue of payroll fraud and instill discipline in the local government system.
According to him, no local government in the state is viable as a result of the activities of payroll fraudsters, which have made payment of salaries and other financial obligations difficult.
Dickson reiterated that the local government councils in the state enjoy financial autonomy from the inception of his administration.
He called on the commission to collaborate with the Caretaker Committee Chairmen and other stakeholders to address the challenges bedeviling local government administration.
Lamenting the myriad of issues that have bogged down the operations of the councils, he said his administration has not approved any employment right from its inception in 2012 and wondered why their nominal rolls would be on the increase.
The Governor, therefore, directed the commission to take out those who are overdue for retirement, absentee workers, as well as those, who have been illegally employed as the government loses over N1 billion to service ghost workers.
