Kogi: Children of ‘big men’ among 18,471 ghost workers‎ – Report

Kogi State Government has disclosed that children of rich individuals were among the 18,471 ghost workers a screening committee uncovered on government payroll.

Chairman of Staff Screening Review and Complaints Committee, Mr. Yakubu Okala disclosed this during the presentation of the final report of the review exercise at the Government House, Lokoja.

Okala said the monthly amount being lost to ghost workers/unintended beneficiaries stood at over N2.6 billion.

He noted that the review committee was able to confirm a total of 45,128 as genuine workers and pensioners in the state.

Okala said: “The payrolls were saturated with names of pupils and students. This is a clear breach of the civil service rules.”

Other anomalies uncovered include abuse of study leaves, incessant promotion of staff, names of dead pensioners on payroll, cases of backdated employments, public servants with excellent results but couldn’t read nor write, impersonation and multiple employments.

Chief of Staff to the Governor, Edward Onoja, commended members of the verification committee, saying their efforts will help reposition the state civil service.

Recall that Kogi State Auditor General, Alhaji Yusufu Okala, had early in the year said that the state lost over N213bn to a category of persons he called “GhostWorkers/Unintended Beneficiaries.”

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