18,211 ghost workers fleece Kogi of N213bn in 13 years ---AG
(Nigeria) Kogi State Government lost N213 billion to 18, 211 ghost workers in the past 13 years, the state Auditor-General, Mr Okala Yusuf, has said.
Yusuf made the disclosure on Monday in Lokoja while
presenting the report of the just concluded screening and verification of the
state workforce undertaken by the government.
He said that the ghost workers were discovered in
Ministries, Departments, Agencies, MDAs, and in the 21 local government
councils in the state.
He said that 7, 606 of the ghost workers were discovered in
the work force of local councils, 5,872 were discovered in the state work force
while pensioners account for 1,040 of the ghost workers.
The A-G said the exercise had reduced the joint workforce of
the state and local governments from 88, 973 to 63, 870.
He added that the monthly wage bill had also been reduced
from N5.8 billion to N4.6 billion.
Yusuf said that the 929 workers who were illegally employed
in the state in 2015 and 2016 were also among those categorised as ghost
workers.
He said that some workers categorised as being in the
Diaspora, who had been collecting their salaries for years while residing in
Abuja, Lagos, Kaduna and other cities across the country were also affected.
He said that the committee relied on employees’ bio data
verification form and the Nigeria inter-bank payment settlement system to
identify the ghost workers.
He accused some `vested interest’ of muddling the report of
the screening committee by omitting the names of 14, 147 genuine workers and
replacing them with the names of uncleared staff.
Yusuf, who served as chairman of the back up committee that
reviewed the report of the screening committee, suggested the adoption of the
integrated and automation payroll system to curb leakages.
The A-G also suggested the establishment of pre-disbursement
audit unit before payment of salaries.
He said that all those who abetted and aided the fraud in
the workforce of the state and local governments should be identified and made
to face the consequences of their actions.
Speaking after the presentation of the report, Governor
Yahaya Bello said that the discovery had justified the good intention of the
government to embark on the screening and verification.
He inaugurated a 15-member committee to review the report,
saying that anybody with genuine complaint should channel it through the
committee.
He promised to correct lopsidedness in the state civil
service and block leakages.
``Less than two per cent of the population should not be
allowed to continue to corner the resources meant for 3.4 million people. This
is unsustainable; the choice we have is to either reform the service or
continue with the distortions in the socio-economic life of our people,” Bello
said.
The governor accused previous administrations in the state
of abandoning governance, saying that his administration was determined to
carry out comprehensive reforms of the civil service.
``This is a way of saying that we are not ready to continue
with the past and put permanent stop to the syndrome of ghost workers,” he
said.
While reiterating the determination of his administration to
adhere strictly to the principles of transparency and accountability, Bello
said that government would endeavour to enhance the capacity of the successful
workers.
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