Anambra State House of Assembly Committee on Public Petitions has expressed worry over alleged cases of forged certificates and denial of promotion among officers of the Vehicle Inspection Department of the state Ministry of Transport.
Chairman of the committee, Hon. Emeka Aforka raised the concerns on Tuesday during the committee second sitting following a petition by one of the inspection officers, Mr Charles Ayalogu over falsification, intimidation and inappropriate placement of staff.
The lawmaker directed the Commissioner for Transport, Mr. Afam Mbanefo to investigate the various issues raised in the petition, including requisite qualifications in the VIO in relation with appropriate placement of officers.
He assured that the committee would do everything within its legislative competence to get to the root of the matter targeted at addressing them appropriately.
He said, “We advise you to liase with the office of the Head of Service to furnish the committee with all the documents and files of the officers mentioned in the petition to enable us investigate further on forged certificates in the VIO.
“We also advise that nobody should be victimized in course of carrying out his duties. We won’t tolerate any vindictive acts. We want fair treatment for every officer.
“The constitution empowers us to expose corruption, inefficiency in administration within its legislative powers. We expect to receive all the relevant documents in two weeks time to assist us investigate the matter to logical conclusion.”
Earlier, Commissioner Mbanefo assured soon rectification of the records, promising that those found guilty would be dealt with.
He said, “There’s a petition on wrong certification of some Vehicle Inspection Officers who claimed to have Engineering certificates.
“We’ve written to the Civil Service Commission and Head of Service to provide us with employment details and files to enable us cross-match it with what we have in our own Ministry’s archives.
“The petitioner felt he has not been treated well and had history issues with writing petitions. All the same, this will help put everyone in check to ensure Ministry’s activities were not disrupted.
On his part, General Supervisor, VIO and Senior Specual Assistant to the governor on Public Transport, Raph Okoye, denied any imposter in his organisation, saying all the officers have appointment letters.
“From all the documents submitted so far, I don’t think there’s any pointer that anybody in VIO has issue of fake certificate.
He commended the democratic and civil disposition of the committee, expressing hope they would dig more to unravel alleged certificates falsification.
