The lawmaker representing Nnewi North & South, Ekwusigo federal constituency, Hon Chris Azubogu has revealed how he helped Anambra State government during the Peter Obi administration to stop N100million monthly losses which came under the disguise of paying schools and workers.
News Echo reports that between 1999 to 2003, Anambra State civil servants severally went on strike; at a point, schools were closed and students were at home for over one year.
Hon. Azubogu however disclosed in a press statement that before 2007, Anambra State was losing the humongous amount to fictitious workers and schools.
He lamented that before then, some schools only existed on paper, while funds mapped out for them and staff of such schools were pocketed by certain individuals.
In his speech Azubogu said: “Between 1999 to 2003, Anambra State civil servants severally went on strike; at a point, schools were closed and students were at home for over one year.
“As a young Tech Entrepreneur running an IT firm in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, then specializing on the use of IT to solve private and public organizational problems, I was so concerned about the unpalatable situation in my state and thinking of how to use my talent and IT solutions to solve the problem.”
Azubogu said in 2007, he approached Anambra State government, headed by Mr Peter Obi with a proposal and was later given the job of consulting for them on payroll management.
“We conducted biometric verification of state civil servants and removed ghost workers and ghost schools from the payroll.
“It was during that verification exercise that I found out that there were schools that existed on papers in government offices at Awka, but were not on the ground anywhere!
“They were what I referred to as ‘Ghost schools’ that were used to loot government money; thus making it impossible for the government to pay salaries.
“That helped the state government to pay the right or actual salaries promptly and, more importantly, enabled the administration save about N100million every month,” Azubogu stated.
Yes, we succeeded in removing ghost workers and ghost schools from the state government’s payroll – a burden that, among others, weighed the Mbadinuju administration down.
The lawmaker who is also running for Senate to represent Anambra South zone said his passion has primarily been to contribute to good governance. While calling on Ndi Anambra to form a synergy that will assist Soludo’s administration for effective service delivery.
