More than 2,500 ghost workers have been identified on the payroll of local government areas in Benue State.
The state comprises 23 local governments. The disclosure was made by Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia, through a press statement released by his Chief Press Secretary, Kula Tersoo, and shared with journalists in Makurdi on Thursday.
The governor attributed the delay in salary payments to teachers in primary and post-primary schools, as well as local government staff, to the necessity of rectifying the distortions and fraudulent practices left behind by the previous administration.
The investigation into the local government’s activities during the last administration exposed reckless inflating of wage bills and manipulation of the payroll.
The statement read in parts, “The governor says the decision for the delay in the payment of salaries of the above-mentioned workers was taken after the government discovered mindless padding of the wage bill and other fraudulent manipulations on their payroll.
“He says the decision became necessary after the discovery, to enable the government sanitize and cleanse the payroll; to ascertain the actual wage bill of the state, and to know the genuine workers that are worth their wages.
“He reveals that the first phase of an extensive staff verification and payroll audit for all teachers and local government staff has just been concluded, and it has already uncovered over 2500 ghost workers that have already been removed from the payroll.
“He identifies ghost workers, ghost schools, double dipping, unlawful employment, salary padding, payment to dead or retired individuals, unlawful replacement, and inflation of the wage bill, as some of the payroll infractions discovered from the audit.
“He assures that workers who were successfully screened will receive their salaries before the end of this week, noting that government is not only fishing out ghosts workers and removing the padding associated with payroll fraud but also putting in measures to ensure the systems are protected going forward.”
Alia had suspended the 23 local government chairmen to pave the way for a thorough investigation into alleged maladministration in the council areas by the state assembly.
