The Bayelsa state government said its public service reform has reduced its workforce from 55,000 to 27,000, after it expunged 28,000 ghost workers from the payroll.

The Bayelsa Commissioner for Information, Mr Daniel Iworiso-Markson, stated this on Saturday.

Iworiso-Markson was reacting to criticism by the Bayelsa chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) to the job cuts.

He berated APC for criticising the reforms adding that the aim was to deal with payroll fraud and not to sack workers.

An APC member of the Bayelsa House of Assembly, representing Brass 1 Constituency, Mr Israel Soni-Goli while receiving two members of the PDP led government noted that the government was not managing the reforms properly.

The Bayelsa Commissioner for Youth Development, Mr Ibarakumo Otobo and Mr Asari Mangeta, an aide to Gov. Seriake Dickson, had on Wednesday defected from the PDP to the APC.

According to Iworiso-Markson, the APC only made a failed attempt to discredit the well intentioned and generally well received public sector reforms in Bayelsa.

He said that media reports quoting the APC as having described the sack of 28,000 workers as regrettable only shows that the party and its followers are not abreast of developments in Bayelsa.

https://globalsentinelng.com/2018/06/23/bayelsa-removes-28000-ghost-workers-from-payroll/