Rivers not making illegal deductions from workers’ pay – Chamberlain

The Rivers State government has refuted allegations that it is undoing workers through illegal deductions from their salaries.

The rumour led to threats of strike late last week.

Chamberlain Peterside, Rivers finance commissioner, who was speaking to newsmen in Port Harcourt, said that government had since stopped all deductions except the new contributory pensions.

Peterside explained that government had discovered that some civil servants in the state were on special salary scales that were not only illegitimate but criminal.

To correct this, he said, a committee was set up in the office of the head of service to uncover these discrepancies and the payroll office of the Ministry of Finance had since rectified these anomalies.

This action, according to the finance commissioner, was all within the ambits of the law and not designed to short-change anybody.

Peterside assured that the Ministry of Finance would continue to implement government’s financial policies to ensure maximum productivity and positive impact on the lives of our citizens.

He noted that since the introduction of the computerised payroll system in the state, all civil servants were entitled to receiving their monthly pay-slips for easy reference and clarification.

Meanwhile, directors seeking elevation to positions of permanent secretary in the state’s civil service would now undergo written examinations so as to achieve merit.

The first of the exams was held on Friday, June 7, 2013, at the large centre called Diete-Spiff Civic Centre in Port Harcourt, according to a statement from the Office of the Head of Service signed by the permanent secretary, service welfare, Lambert Ekwueme.

The examination was conducted by officials from the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON) only for substantive directors who had served for at least five years. A two-day preparatory course had been arranged for the directors in the state public service on what to expect in the exams.