Shettima inaugurates panel on Borno workers biometric audit

GOVERNOR Kashim Shettima of Borno yesterday inaugurated a panel to oversee the biometric evaluation of workers in the state’s civil service.

This was contained in a press statement by the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Usman Jidda Shuwa made available to newsmen on Monday in Maiduguri.

Biometric exercise and auditing, it was learnt, had not been conducted in the last two decades.

Shuwa in the statement said that the 12-member panel was saddled with the task of, “removing anything that may impede the implementation of government policies and programmes, which have direct impact on the welfare of the citizens.”

“The biometric exercise of the state’s workforce will ensure effective and qualitative personnel and also create employment opportunities for unemployed youths in Borno State,” the statement said.

The terms of reference of the committee, according to Shuwa, include; to ascertain the actual number of staff in each of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), verify those that left the service and ascertain the total number of workers employed into the civil service from 2000 to date.

The panel will also determine if such employments in the civil service were “properly authorised.”

Governor Shettima while presenting the 2016 budget to the Assembly also confirmed that: “We shall embark on a biometric exercise in the civil service to determine the actual number of our workforce with a view to unlocking employment opportunities for our teeming unemployed graduates; and to engage the youths in useful ventures so that they do not fall prey to the influence of anti-social elements in the society.”

Shuwa is the head of the panel, while the Permanent Secretary, Establishment and Service Matters, Garba Alimi, will serve as the secretary.