By Abdulai Umar,
Minna
Governor Abubarkar Sani Bello of Niger State has promised to intensify the fight against corruption in the state his second term in office.
He also disclosed that soon he would institute a Whistle-Blowing-Policy whereby anyone with useful information that would lead to uncovering salary cartels and their shady deals would be handsomely rewarded while at the same time his/her protection guaranteed.
Besides, the governor promised to re-energize the automation of the processes of tax collection and expanding the tax base both in terms of number and variety of sources that will enable it depend less on monthly federal allocations.
Governor Bello stated these in his second term inauguration speech, adding that he would in the next four years build a well motivated, effective and efficient civil service that would be centred on capacity building, retooling, improved welfare and re-orientation to meet present day realities.
His words: “The Civil Service is critical to the success of our developmental agenda. In line with this position, we will establish a Civil Service Institute to help build a well-motivated, effective, and efficient civil service through; capacity building, retooling, improved welfare, and re-orientation with the capacity to plan, execute and monitor our development projects and programmes”.
Bello lamented the challenges he faced in the past four years trying to cleanse the system of rot, adding that the state government will continue to promote good governance, streamline the decision-making process and tackle corruption within the Niger State Civil Service.
“We shall institute Whistle-Blowing-Policy where anyone with useful information that would lead to uncovering the salary cartel and their shady deals would be handsomely rewarded and you can be rest assured of your protection”, Bello said, adding that it will no longer be business as usual for corrupt officials who collaborate with civil servants to perpetrate fraud.
“We will also rid the public service of dead wood, block leakages in recurrent spending, strengthen our fiscal management and procurement frameworks, and enthrone transparency and accountability at all levels through institutional reforms and automation for best results”.
He further promised that the state government in the next four years would focus on sustaining policy of financial prudence and budget discipline, which has kept the cost of governance within reasonable limits, while ensuring that more resources are channeled into capital expenditures and welfare enhancing projects, he said.