Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno has directed local government chairs to stay in their respective areas and must sign the attendance register four times daily to prove their presence.

Mr Zulum gave the directive while presiding over the swearing-in ceremony of the 27 elected council chairmen in Maiduguri on Monday.

The governor directed the Ministry for Local Government to immediately deploy biometric data capture machines to council areas for the chairmen to thumbprint daily at 8:00 a.m., noon, 2:00 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.

He said the measure became necessary to check any chairman’s absenteeism or absconding from work without a genuine reason, adding that “abscondment remains an impeachment offence.

“We have advised chairmen, time without number, but the advice had not been adhere to strictly.

“We have now designed a measure to ensure their presence, which is very important,” said the governor.

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 to manage scarce resources prudently, Mr Zulum tasked the new chairmen to ensure the spread of development projects across communities.

He also tasked them on working closely with security personnel to consolidate 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.

(NAN)