Taraba Governor Orders Immediate Payment to Staff Salaries After Committee Concludes Verification

Taraba State Governor, Dr. Agbu Kefas, has ordered the immediate payment of salaries and outstanding entitlements to all civil servants cleared by the State Staff Verification Committee.

The directive followed the formal submission of the committee’s report on Wednesday at the TY Danjuma House in Jalingo, marking a key milestone in the government’s effort to sanitise the state workforce. The verification exercise, conducted over five months, resulted in the removal of more than 7,000 individuals from the payroll due to irregular employment, duplicated records, and undocumented service history.

Governor Kefas praised the committee’s work as “exhaustive, transparent and courageous”, noting that it was carried out under intense public scrutiny and institutional resistance. He emphasized that protecting the integrity of the civil service is essential for effective governance, stating: “Posterity will always judge leadership choices either as a legacy of fairness or of negligence.”

Kefas also instructed the committee to review cases of individuals who may have been wrongly delisted and create a pathway for lawful re-engagement, provided they meet employment criteria.

Presenting the report, Committee Chairman Alhaji Abdulkadir Haruna disclosed that of 7,800 workers initially flagged, only 1,410 were fully cleared after rigorous scrutiny. These individuals are to be reinstated immediately with all owed entitlements.

Haruna highlighted several disturbing anomalies, including cases of civil servants receiving overpayments of millions of naira in a single month, and many delisted staff lacking appointment letters, postings, or verification records, making them ineligible for government service.

The committee recommended accelerating payroll automation, strengthening internal controls, and ensuring verified workers are integrated promptly into the digital payment platform to prevent future discrepancies.