Port Harcourt – Rivers government has said that its decision compelling workers to provide Bank Verification Number (BVN) before getting their salaries was to ensure sanity in the system.

Commissioner for Finance in the state, Fred Kpakol, stated this while speaking to newsmen in Port Harcourt on Friday.

Kpakol said that the government had begun moves to ensure that only verifiable persons in the workforce earned salaries.

According to him, compelling workers to provide their BVNs before getting the February salary will cleanse the system of payroll-related fraud.

“It is our own way of cleansing the system; we want to ensure that only people who work for the state are paid.

“It is in line with the current administration’s policy on utmost frugality and fiscal responsibility; it is not meant to witch-hunt anybody,’’ he said.

Kpakol stated that the government was taking serious steps to cushion the effects of the fall in revenue from Federation Account.

“We are aware of the fall in oil price, we are aware of its effects on revenue that accrue to states.

“As a government, we are taking steps to cushion the effects of this,’’ he said.