Over 1,600 LG Employees with Fake Certificates Discovered in Abia State.

The Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs in Abia State, Chief Charles Ogbonnaya says over one thousand, six hundred local government staff in the area are working with fake certificates. Chief Ogbonnaya stated this while briefing newsmen in Umuahia.

According to Chief Ogbonnaya, the figure was made known after the staff verification carried out by the ministry in all the seventeen local government areas of the state. He noted that government would look into the matter with a view to address the ugly incident.

Chief Ogbonnaya said that the ministry had also discovered that over three hundred workers in various local government councils in the state who had reached the age of retirement were still in service.

The Commissioner stated that government had given directive for the full implementation of the report of the staff verification to sanitize and instill discipline in the local government system. On the issue of non- existent workers in the local government system in the state, the Commissioner explained that seven persons were discovered in Bende Local Government Area, expressing the hope that more would be exposed in other local governments after investigations had been carried out.

LAWRENCE NWOKEDI