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Group Raises Alarm Over Cash Payments Instead of Electronic Payment To Kwara Civil Servants

February 15, 2018

A good governance group, Kwara Must Change (KMC), has alleged that a range of fraudulent activities is currently going on in the Kwara State Civil Service, particularly in ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs).

A good governance group, Kwara Must Change (KMC), has alleged that a range of fraudulent activities is currently going on in the Kwara State Civil Service, particularly in ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs).

The group, in a statement made available to SaharaReporters, said it discovered that workers of MDAs in the state are being paid allowances in cash instead of through the e-payment system. It also disclosed that government workers are given just sheets of paper to sign on for allowances received. The sheets of paper, it added, never indicate any specific sum of money. This, said KMC, means that workers are never certain how much is subsequently claimed in their names.

The group equally alleged that any worker that refuses to sign on such sheets of paper or asks questions about the bizarre practice, puts him or herself at the risk of being victimized.  Workers in the Kwara State Ministry of Justice are also paid this way. Lawyers claimed KMC, are paid legal allowances in cash, the same way basic and training allowances, especially for teachers, are also paid in cash.

The group stated that the only reason for the adoption of this practice is to make fraud easier to commit. It added that the Kwara State government pays contractors electronically, but pays workers in cash despite asking them to pay for the service.

“If the government is so keen on e-payment to the extent of forcing workers to pay for the service, how come the same government would consent to a cash payment for workers without seeing the contradiction?” asked KMC.

The group quoted workers as saying that only salaries are paid through the e-payment system, while other payments are done in cash.

“Kwara Must Change is of the view that the trouble the government goes through to bring cash and pay workers one after the other far is eliminated by e-payment system. We wonder why the government would be paying cash if not for ulterior motives. It has been established that this bizarre practice carried out in collaboration with the Kwara State Ministry of Finance and government cannot claim ignorance,” said the group.

It called on the state government to immediately put an end to the practice.

“This is a digital age and we cannot be stuck in the past. We also call on the state government, particularly the Kwara State House of Assembly, to investigate this matter properly to unravel any conspiracy of fraud that might be taking place within the system,” said KMC.

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