31st March, 2014
Twenty six employees of the Delta State House of Assembly Commission has been dismissed for certificate fraud.
Mrs Josephine Kachikwu, the Chairman, of the Commission (DSHAC) disclosed Monday in Asaba.
She said that those affected were two management staff, 10 middle management cadre staff, five technical officers, six senior admin officers, and three junior staff, while cases of 22 others were pending.
She said that the dismissal was effected after a thorough verification and re-verification exercise had been carried out by a team of experts.
“This was consequent upon the infighting by some employees over seniority which resulted in protests that some of their colleagues were presenting fake certificates so that they will be upgraded far and above their equals.
The commission engaged the services of a firm of external auditors to carry out certificate verification.
“The firm has submitted its report and every case was subjected to further re-verification to remove any possible human error and so far, 26 employees have been dismissed from the service of the commission for parading fake certificates.
The statement quoted Kachikwu as saying that the commission’s decision to sack the staff would “go down in history as the most agonising decision by the commission.”
It said that since the inauguration of the commission with her as Chairman by Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan in 2011, it has been carrying out a policy of motivating employees.
“This is to ensure an efficient and effective service delivery in the legislature and eligible staff for promotion are subjected to a refresher course and subsequent examination before being promoted.
“As an incentive, the commission pays a handsome outfit allowance to all staff annually to enable them maintain corporate and dignifying looks befitting of parliamentary staff,” the statement said