The Benue State government has discovered over 2,500 ghost workers from the payroll of local government areas in Benue State.
Benue State has 23 Local Government Areas.
Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia, reveal this on Thursday, in a press statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Kula Tersoo, in Makurdi.
Alia, gave reason for the the delay in salaries payment for teachers in primary, secondary schools, and the local government staff.
The Governor said there was a need to clear all the manipulative methods created by the past administration.
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.
“The governor 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 all 23 local government chairmen to allow a thorough investigation into alleged maladministration in the council areas by the state assembly.
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