Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno has directed local government chairmen to stay in their respective areas and must sign attendance register four times daily to prove their presence.
Mr Zulum gave the directive on Monday in Maiduguri while presiding over the swearing-in ceremony of the 27 elected council chairmen.
The governor, therefore, directed the Ministry for Local Government to immediately deploy
biometric data capture machines to council areas for chairmen to thumbprint daily at 8:00 a.m., at noon, at 2:00 p.m. and at 3.30 p.m.
He said that the measure became necessary to check absenteeism or absconding from work by any chairman without genuine reason, adding that “abscondment remain an impeachment offence.
“We have advised chairmen, time without number, but the advise had not been adhere to strictly.
“We have now designed a measure to ensure their presence, which is very important.”
Mr Zulum added that with improved security in the state, the council chairmen needed to be with their people to support his administration’s commitment to rehabilitation, reconstruction and resettlement of displaced persons.
While urging them on prudent management of scarce resources, Zulum tasked the new chairmen to ensure spread of development projects across communities in their areas.
He also tasked them on working closely with security personnel in consolidating peace and the return of civil authority in their areas.
The governor also presided over the swearing-in ceremony of seven
permanent secretaries and 29 special advisers.
