Sulaimon Olanrewaju reports that while ordinarily there should be a convergence of views on how to treat those guilty of fraud, the case of the 3,000 Oyo State workers sacked over forged certificates and falsified ages is polarising the pacesetter state.OYO State government is currently in a dilemma: should it do what is right by keeping workers who got into its employ through the use of falsified documents and those who contravened their engagement rules out of its workforce or should it go against good conscience and keep confirmed forgers in its fold while the door of employment is shut against qualified, competent, innovative and agile young men and women' On the face value, deciding between right and wrong is as easy as a hot knife slicing through butter but that is where politics is not a factor. The issue of easing out those parading fallacious credentials in Oyo State civil service has become so politicised that even members of the state House of Assembly are sharply divided on the matter. However, that is hardly surprising because in a country where all issues are politicised, patent fraudulence enjoys immense patronage.According to the state government, the immediate past administration had engaged the services of a management consultancy outfit, Captain Consultin, to do a thorough audit of the records of all public and civil servants in the state.Subsequently, according to a statement by Dr Festus Adedayo, Special Adviser on Media to the state governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, the consultancy company came up with a list of workers found guilty of certificate forgery and age falsification, among other deficiencies that violated their rules of engagement to the Oyo State government public and civil service which it presented to the Adebayo Alao-Akala administration.The statement added that when the Ajimobi administration came into office, even though it was persuaded that allowing indicted workers to stay in the service would affect the morale of workers with genuine documents and was against the rules of equity and fair-play, as well as constituting a potential pollution in the ranks of workers in the state, government immediately initiated a public service process of giving these workers the right of fair hearing by setting up a panel to review the consultant's claims.Adedayo added that after the exercise of painstakingly verifying the veracity of the submission of the consulting company, many of the workers who were exonerated by the panel had their names removed from the list and were allowed to continue in the service of the state government.While addressing members of the Oyo State House of Assembly during a summon on the issue of the sacked workers, Dr Adeolu Akande, Chief of Staff to Oyo State governor, said that the state government, apart from setting up a panel headed by the Head of Service, Alhaji Tajudeen Aremu, to look into the report, also got Captain Consultin to sign an indemnity that if any staff was dismissed based on the report of the firm and the person was adjudged wrongfully dismissed by any court, the firm would be responsible for the damages awarded to such claimant.Again, to guard against any innocent persons being subjected to the trauma of wrongful dismissal, Governor Ajimobi still sent the report to the Civil Service Commission and the Ministry of Establishment and Training for review.According to Akande, 'When the commission and the ministry submitted their reports, the government set up another panel comprising the Head of Service, Ministry of Establishment and Training, Civil Service Commission, Ministry of Justice and Teaching Service Commission to further review the report. It was after this third review that the government executed the report of the staff audit.''However, the logic of Akande's presentation cut no ice with some lawmakers as heated debates over the matter soon ensued with some condemning the government's action while others hailed the exercise as a necessary move to rid the civil service of deceitful workers. Some of those who opposed the sack premised their position on the timing. According to them, the timing of the sack was not right as students in various schools in the state were on the verge of writing their examinations.However, some other lawmakers said that it was shameful that the House could have any of its members canvassing that those who falsified their documents should be retained in the system. The sharp division among the legislators compelled the Speaker, Hon Monsurat Sunmonu, citing House Rule Page 44, to set up a committee headed by Hon Rotimi Ajanaku, Chairman, House Committee on Education, the Minority Leader, Hon Ibrahim Bolomope as well as Honourables Fatai Salam and Kehinde Subair to work on the two dividing sides of opinion on the issue and report to the House before adjourning the meeting.But the issue of the sack has generated interest beyond the House of Assembly. Prince Dotun Oyelade, former Special Adviser on Media to former Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala, while reacting to the sack of the workers, said the sack 'is the fulfilment of a mindset primed at reducing the workforce by all means.'Oyelade, who refrained from commenting on whether the Alao-Akala administration engaged the consultant which produced the contentious staff audit report or not, added that, 'The sack is not only premeditated but the first step in a long-drawn strategy to prune down the civil service to a manageable level as a result of the deadlock surrounding the minimum wage.'Similarly, the Oke Ogun chapter of the PDP at a meeting held last Thursday at the Parapo Town Hall in Saki, condemned the sack of the workers and asked the government to recall them, saying the state government had no justification for sacking the workers.One of the affected workers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of his hope of a likely recall, said that the action of the state government was meant to weed out some workers uncharitably.According to him, what he was found guilty of was leaving primary school at the age of 10.His words: 'I joined Oyo State Teaching Service in 1998 but I had sworn to an affidavit about my age in 1990 because my parents had misplaced my birth certificate. Oyo State government is now querying the affidavit, saying I could not have finished primary school at the age of 10. I have friends who finished primary school at the age of nine. What would the government say to that' So, I believe the exercise is a deliberate attempt to get rid of some people from the service. Perhaps to make allowance for those they want to bring in.' The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Oyo State chapter, in its reaction to the development thanked the government for setting up a panelto review the matter.In a telephone interview with the Nigerian Tribune, the NLC chairman, Mr Bashir Olanrewaju, appealed to the government to have a second thought on those who were found guilty of certificate forgery and provide them with a soft landing opportunity.He said, 'We do not support forgery of any kind because we know that forgery is a fraud. But we want the government to convert the dismissal of the affected workers to retirement because of their future. The future of anybody dismissed from employment is already doomed. The governor should please save their future and convert their dismissal to retirement.'He added that converting the dismissal to retirement would stand the affected people in a good stead for getting their entitlement from the government with which they would be able to continue with their lives and take care of their families. He advised the governor not to do anything capable of worsening the poverty situation in the state.For those with discrepancies in their birth records, the chairman pleaded with the government to consider each case on its own merit because several factors over which they had no control could have been responsible for the discrepancies.'We want the government to be magnanimous in this case and be merciful to those affected by this and anyone below 60 years of age should be reabsorbed,' he said.Apparently, the reaction generated by the sack is discomfiting to the governor who had expected the people to laud the bold step taken by his government to sanitise the system. To make it clear to all that his reason for disengaging those found culpable of forgery was noble and with a view to sanitising the system, after the implementation of the report and some affected workers claimed that they were wrongfully dismissed, the governor still set up an 11-man panel headed by the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Adebayo Mutalubi Ojo, with a representative each of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) to review such claims.While inaugurating the panel, the governor had said despite his desire for a clean, efficient and public service, he would reabsorb the affected workers if that was the wish of the people of the state.According to the governor, 'We, as a government, will not on any occasion release or sack any innocent person. It is ungodly and indeed a sin against God and man. But if anyone defrauded the system, has stolen and falsified his credentials and you say we should temper justice with mercy, you are inflicting great damage on the system, which will soon destroy its whole fabric.'But I say once again, ours is a listening government. If this is the consensus of the good people of Oyo State, that anyone who has stolen government money; anyone who falsified age; anyone who falsified certificates; anyone who is a ghost worker; that we should leave them in the system, so be it. We will respect the wishes of our people. But I must tell you: if we do this, the state will not move forward.'Senator Ajimobi, who was unequivocal about what his preference would be ordinarily, added that, 'If we have established that some people falsified their certificates and are certified to be ghost workers, are we saying we should keep them in the system' Yes, we must temper justice with mercy, but in doing that, what impression do we give the thousands of diligent, upright workers in the system; those who struggled to have genuine certificates and have never for once defrauded the system''Commenting on the development, a public affairs analyst, Dr Lanre Sodeinde, said what was important was for the government to ensure that only those found guilty of the offences were the ones affected by the sack.'As far as I am concerned, the people of Oyo State elected the government to do what is right. What is right in this case is that infraction must be punished. If those affected are indeed guilty of certificate forgery and age falsification, they should be punished. If they are not punished, it would be an incentive for more people to be deceitful. If we encourage deceit in our operations what type of society are we going to build''Sodeinde, a psychologist, also said the governor promised to transform the state and he could not do that without departing from the practice of the past.'If the governor is serious about transforming the state, then he has to do things differently from the way they were done in the past. If we continue with our ugly past, we cannot expect an improvement in the future. My counsel to the governor is that he should resist the temptation to recall those found guilty of the offences. To do that is to kill the system. If people cannot be honest with a matter as simple as their ages how do you expect them to be honest in other serious issues' I am sure that the governor knows that an abetter is as guilty as the perpetrator of a crime.'Speaking in a similar vein, Pastor Emmanuel Ajibola said the governor should only go back on what had been done if it was found that the innocent had been wrongly punished.Ajibola, minister in charge of Heritage In Salvation Ministries based at Ring Road in Ibadan, said while it was important for leaders to listen to their followers, it was also important for the leaders to differentiate between sentiments and genuine concern.'Is the governor saying that if an armed robber is caught and there is a clamour by the people that the robber be spared he would spare him' The governor has the benefit of the larger picture which many of these people agitating for the reinstatement of those found guilty of falsifying their records do not see. So, he should act in accordance with the extant law.'The governor should be careful because those who are asking him to tread softly on this matter will come round in future to accuse him of weakness. Leadership is not a popularity contest; rather it is a task to do what is best for the majority. Will the government be able to employ needed personnel if it continues to carry the unnecessary burden of those whose contribution to the system is falsehood''The governor knows the vision he has for the state. What kind of civil service does he want to leave behind after his tenure' Is it a civil service of forgers and fraudulent people' I think the answer to this question should be the determining factor for the governor. Some people may not like him for the courage to take the right action now. But posterity will be kind to him for doing the right thing.
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