ONDO WARNS WORKERS AGAINST FRAUD

The Ondo State Government has warned workers in ministries, agencies and departments, yesterday, to desist from colluding with bank staffers to defraud the state government.

The State Commissioner for Finance, Yele Ogundipe who gave the warning at a workshop through Ministry of Finance for Accountants, Directors of Finance and Administration, (DFA) Auditors, and paymasters, said government would no longer tolerate sharp practices among its workforce.

Ogundipe lamented that huge sums of money were being trapped in banks, saying wrong deductions, wrong placements and illegal withdrawals was rampant in some financial Institutions.

'The private sector should be partners in progress with government so that it will be able to fulfill its responsibilities to citizenry, it's to examine the relationship between government's financial managers and financial institutions' the Commissioner said.

He advocated proactive approach to curb the menace of financial fraud, stressing that over N60 million scandal was discovered in one government owned tertiary institution in the state.

The Commissioner said the fraud was discovered when the institution requested and obtained its account balances from the bank and found that some unauthorised payments had been made.

Ogundipe expressed the need to train government officials against the sharp practices of public officers and some unscrupulous bank workers that would continue to drain the meagre resources of government that would have been used for developmental projects.