IBADAN— Against the backdrop of the e-payment system for teachers which it introduced to replace the over-the-counter salary payment inherited from the past government in Oyo State, Governor Abiola Ajimobi has assured that no civil servants would be sacked, except the lazy and indolent ones.

The governor spoke at a public analysis of electronic payment for the state Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and the state Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM) in Ibadan.

He said his administration would block all leakages in government coffers so as to provide a living wage for civil servants in the state.

Gov. Ajimobi said that his vision was to make the state the first in the South-Western Region in terms of salary payment and general staff welfare.

Earlier, the Special Adviser to the Governor on ICT, Mr. Adetayo Koleoso, had said that N250 million and N300 million were yet to be claimed by SUBEB and TESCOM respectively.

He noted that many teachers could not get their salaries on the 25th of the month due to dormant accounts or failure to comply with the new banking regulations.

In his remarks, the state Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Adedeji Adelabu, also said that only 11 out of the 33 local governments in the state had submitted their data for the payment of teachers’ salaries as at November 23, stating that the governor had signed their salaries for the November salaries since November 20, 2011.

He said that this had constituted major hindrance to the realization of the payment of salaries by 25th of the month.

Other speakers at the occasion, including the state Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Teachers, Mr. Toyin Babatunde and the state Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr. Bashir Olanrewaju, commended the state government for the e-payment initiative, saying it would facilitate prompt payment of workers’ salaries.