Certificate Forgery: Delta Assembly Commission Confirms SaharaReporters Story, Sacks 26 Workers

Delta State House of Assembly Service Commission, Monday confirmed our December, 2013, story of certificates forgery involving over 30 staff and some directors in the state house of Assembly.

The certificate forgery story which was first unraveled by SaharaReporters was confirmed today by the chairman of the commission, Barr. (Mrs) Josephine Ada Kachikwu, saying that 26 employees of the State House of Assembly have been dismissed for parading fake certificates.

Mrs Kachikwu, who disclosed this in a statement, also said that the dismissal was done after a thorough verification and re-verification exercise carried out by a firm of auditors engaged to carry out a certificate verification exercise of staff.

According to the commission’s boss “Based on in-fighting by some employees over seniority resulting in protests that some of their colleagues were presenting fake certificates so that they would be upgraded far and above their equals, the commission engaged the services of a firm of external auditors to carry out certificate verification. The firm has submitted its report and every case was subjected to further re-verification to remove any possible human error and so far, 26 employees have been dismissed from the services of the commission for parading fake certificates; two are on interdiction, while pending cases are about 20.”

While using the medium to highlight the activities of the commission, Mrs Kachikwu reiterated that the decision to sack the staff will go “down in history as the most agonizing decision by the commission,” stressing that since the inauguration of the commission under her watch as chairman by Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan in 2011, it had been carrying out a policy of motivation of employees to ensure an “efficient and effective service delivery in the legislature.

“It is very important to state that the commission has set a standard whereby every eligible staff for promotion is subjected to a refresher course and subsequent examination before being promoted; staffs are always promoted based on merit. As an incentive package, the commission pays a handsome out-fit allowance to all staff annually to enable them maintain cooperate and dignifying looks of parliamentary staff. The commission has provided a labour-friendly climate for the flourishing of a robust workers’ union, the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN).”

Mrs. Kachikwu however thanked Governor Uduaghan for approving the funds for the training and re-training of staff which has made staff to be more conscious of themselves and their duties.

Meanwhile, the dismissed staff and their categories are as follows, Management cadre 2, Middle Management cadre 10, Technical cadre 5, Senior Staff under Admin. 6, Junior Staff under Admin. 3, Interdiction 2 and pending cases are put at 20.