Like Abia, Benue Govt Uncovers 2,500 Ghost Workers On State’s Payroll

No fewer than 2500 ghost workers on the state’s payroll were uncovered recently by Benue State Government.

The development was confirmed in a statement issued on Thursday in Makurdi by Governor Hyacinth Alia’s Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Tersoo Kula, Naija News reports.

The government said the discovery was made when it carried out the first phase of staff verification and payroll audit for teachers and Local Government staff members in the state.

“In the first phase of staff verification and payroll audit for Primary and Secondary School Teachers as well as Local Governments workers, 2,500 ghost workers were uncovered.

”The payroll has since been cleaned and names of the ghost workers have been removed,” Kula noted in the statement.

He said the government also uncovered phantom schools, double dipping, unlawful employment, salary padding, payment to dead or retired individuals and unlawful replacements.

Quoting the governor, Kula expressed regret over the delay in payment of salaries of teachers in primary and secondary schools, as well as the Local Government staff.

He explained that the delay in the payment of salaries was intentional after the government found out about the mindless padding of the wage bill and other fraudulent manipulations on their payroll.

He assured workers who have been screened that they will receive their salaries before the end of the week.

“We are not only getting rid of ghost workers and removing the padding associated with payroll fraud. We are putting in measures to ensure the system is protected going forward,” he said.

Abia Gov’t Cuts Off 2,300 Ghost Workers To Save Over N200 Million On Monthly Wages

Earlier, Naija News reported how Governor Alex Otti-led government of Abia State claimed it saved the state over N200 million on the monthly wage bill by cutting off some alleged ghost workers from the civil service.

The development was confirmed in a press release on Monday by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Otti, Kazie Uko.

According to Uko, the huge funds were recovered following an ongoing verification of civil servants and other public workers that eliminated the ghost workers from the state’s payroll.

The statement quoted the State Accountant General, Njum Onyemenam, to have revealed that the saving was made using a unified payment system.

She confirmed that workers had received the payment of April salaries as well as June pensions to retirees.

This publication reports that Onyemenam disclosed this on Monday after a meeting with Governor Otti. She explained that the verification exercise was still ongoing and that the government hoped to make more savings.

“So far, we have been able to save N220 million from the ongoing verification of workers in the state, local governments and pensioners.

“Not less than 2,300 ghost names have been weeded out of the payrolls, using the unified payment system, and we hope to identify more still as we continue with the exercise,” the Accountant General said.

She confirmed that following Governor Otti’s directive, the government had last week paid the arrears of April salaries, left behind by the immediate past administration and also June pensions to retirees.

The Accountant General also noted that local government staff, who had been skipped when the June salaries were paid due to their failure to submit their verified payment schedule, will receive their salaries this week.