Certificate racketeering: Anambra sacks 6 deputy directors with Imo State University degrees

By Our correspondent

Anambra State Local Government Service Commission has sacked six deputy directors in its employ with fake Imo State University degrees.

The Commission said it also uncovered 210 ghost workers .

The Chairman of the Commission, Vin Ezeaka, disclosed this to journalists in Awka , the Anambra State capital.

According to him, the dismissed deputy directors were all products of Imo State University.

He said,“All the affected directors were alleged products of Imo State University, and as I speak to you now, our investigators are expecting more responses from other universities across the country.

“The action was part of the Commission’s quest to enthrone professionalism and eradicate all forms of corruption in the council system.

“The ghost workers, who cut across the 21 Local Government Areas of the state, have been removed from the workers’ payroll.

Ezeaka noted that the feat was made possible through a dedicated back-to-back Personnel Audit and the deployment of staff biometrics Identification and verification, using State-of-the-Art Clock-in-Clock-out Digital Attendance Register, which brought to the fore the numerical strength of the physical staff in the Unified Local Government System of Anambra State.

He explained that certificate screening had become a continuous exercise.

Having completed the screening of Grade Level 15 and 16, the certificate screening of Grade Level 14 and below shall commence in earnest, aimed at flushing out fraudsters and all forms of certificate racketeering in the Local Government System.

He noted that unrestrained looting and mismanagement of Local Government funds had become a thing of the past since all Local Government accounts had been linked to a dedicated tracking system, continuously monitored by security agents for the recovery of looted funds and prosecution of culpable officers.

Ezeaka commended Governor Chukwuma Soludo for supporting a digitally smart Local Government System that birthed the Clock-in-Clock-out Electronic Attendance Register.

He said the system had ultimately translated to ending the ghost worker syndrome and overbloated Local Government staff emoluments.