Rivers State Government has taken a major step towards checking the problem of ghost workers in its civil service by acquiring a new Photo Electronic Fingerprint Identification System (PFEIS).
The state governor, Dr Peter Odili, who commissioned the equipment at the state Secretariat Complex in Port Harcourt at the weekend, said the government expected that the new device would finally put to rest the problem of ghost workers in the service and ascertain the exact number of genuine workers.
While disclosing the release of N10,000 Christmas package and an additional N10,000 to every civil servant in the state, the governor urged them to continue to cooperate with the government in ensuring the execution of people-oriented programmes that would uplift their standards of living.
Odili said the commissioning of the fingerprint device should challenge all civil servants to put in their best and identify with what is good for a better tomorrow, stressing however that the workers should imbibe the culture of maintenance as the era of treating public property with disdain was gone.
He cautioned workers against absenteeism, lateness to work and corruption, and other tendencies that could affect the functioning of the entire system, noting that every civil servant is important and must strive to do the right thing to get the state to the next level of development.
The governor explained that no government could succeed without civil servants, as they are the engine room of government activities, but warned them against unnecessary strikes.
He described Rivers workers as the best in the country because of their maturity in resolving issues without opting for strike.
�Strike in the civil service has become old fashioned because they are not the only way of receiving attention from government,� Odili said, stressing that before the end of the year all the blocks of the State Secretariat Complex would be completely renovated.
Earlier in his speech, the state Head of Service (HOS), Mr Edwin Bomari, said with the establishment of PEFIS, a database of civil servants and pensioners would be created and the problem of ghost workers solved.
Bomari explained that to ensure efficient and effective utilisation of the programme, some civil servants had been trained on how to operate the various devices, and thanked the governor for approving the introduction of the system.
Chairman of Katrad-Aprokgang Limited, the company that provided the technology, Mr Kem Osanakpo, explained that the new device was capable of providing accurate information on any individual whose fingerprint and data are in the computer.
He said apart from providing personal data of civil servants and pensioners, the system could also be used to programme the pay roll, as well as manage time and attendance registers.