The appeal panel was inaugurated on Monday in Lokoja.
A 32-man appeal panel has been inaugurated by Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State to examine the litany of complaints over workers declared ghosts or ‘uncleared by the State Staff Verification and Complaints Review Committee.’
The appeal panel was inaugurated on Monday in Lokoja.
The earlier review committee submitted its final report in December 2016 which classified 43,522 workers as ‘cleared’, 32,753 as ‘uncleared’ and 8,879 as confirmed ghost workers.
Governor Bello approved salary payments to those cleared, drawing criticisms by thousands of workers left out in the cold.
The House of Assembly waded in and dismissed the report as Satanic and fraudulent. It called for a review.
Governor Yahaya Bello agreed this morning that a stringent application of the recommendations of the report would affect many workers in no small measure.
The appeal committee will now review the names of the workers on the ‘uncleared’ list.
Governor Bello charged the 32-member Committee, comprising representatives of the public service, labour unions, and civil society organizations, to discharge their duties with utmost sense of responsibility.
The Committee will be headed by a representative of the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON) and report directly to the Governor.
The Committee has 6 weeks from today to submit its report.
Governor Bello asked members to ensure that no genuine worker is left uncleared.
They will examine workers whose names have been omitted from both cleared and uncleared lists.
