President Bola Tinubu said that government workers who moved abroad but are still getting paid by the government should have to pay back the money.

He said this at an event on Saturday, June 22, 2024, that was put together by the office of the head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HOCSF) to honour Civil Service Week.

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President Tinubu, who was there through George Akume, secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), told the crowd that the heads and managers of the offices where these workers worked should also be punished.

In President Tinubu’s words;

“While I was away in South Africa, I monitored some of the activities and especially read the shocking revelation by the head of the service about hundreds of workers who had relocated abroad without formally resigning their appointments and who were drawing salaries from the treasury for years. 

Although the head of the service said some of these fraudulent workers had been uncovered, she should not stop there. The culprits must be made to refund the money they have fraudulently collected. Their supervisors and department heads must also be punished for aiding and abetting the fraud under their watch.

The Nigerian civil service cannot just be a workplace where ‘anything is possible,’ and where workers violate rules without fearing punishment or repercussion. The civil service of any nation is too important for such delinquent behaviour to take root or be tolerated. Civil service is the bedrock, the engine, and the locomotive of government, which is necessary for the government to deliver public goods to citizens.

As politicians, we are no more than drivers of the locomotives that you provide. Those who say a nation is as good as its civil service are close to the truth. You are the establishment that remains to pilot government affairs as we politicians come and go.

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Over the decades, successive governments initiated various national development plans and programs, and all relied on the civil service to translate such plans into high-impact programs and projects across all sectors of the nation’s economy. We expect you to do the same under our administration.

This is why we support building, nurturing, and empowering the human capital in the service. This is why there is a paramount need to enshrine a culture of professionalism and build confidence in civil servants.” he said.

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