Oyo suspends 500 workers - Over fake certificates

By Adeolu Adeyemo and Akin Durodola - 31.01.2008

THE Oyo State government on Wednesday suspended about 500 civil servants over alleged certificate forgery. The state Head of Service, Dr. Ebenezer Okebukola, who dropped the hint in a press briefing after the state executive council meeting, assured that the affected workers would not be paid their salaries for this month.

The alleged fake workers, he said, were discovered by a consulting firm commissioned for the verification of workers last year. He added that the number of workers with fake certificates cut across various ministries and parastatals ranging from grade levels One to 14.

“About 500 workers in the Oyo State civil service have been suspended for using fake certificates to secure employment with the state government. So, the government has set up panel of enquiry to investigate the matter.

“The exercise is geared towards cleansing the state civil service of unscrupulous elements who used fake certificates to secure employment,” he said.

Okebukola said further that those found culpable would not be spared after investigations of the panel of enquiry. He maintained that ”it is the determination of the state government to make all the affected workers found guilty at the end of the investigation face the wrath of the law.”

The head of service, who pledged that the present administration in the state would not condone any indiscipline, said it would do all it could to see that it discouraged indiscipline and fraud in the civil service.

Throwing more light, the governor’s Special Adviser on Public Communication, Prince Dotun Oyelade, said the suspension had nothing to do with the strike action by workers last year.

“It is invidious for anyone to link the certificate verification embarked upon by the state government to the strike which ended five months ago and already put behind us,” he said.