Niger state government on Saturday said the ongoing verification exercise, is yielding positive results as over one thousand ghost workers has been exposed.

It has saved more than One Hundred Million naira (N100million).

Speaking while submitting their report, Chairman of the Committee on Civil Servants Salary Management and Verification, Engr. Ibrahim Mohammed Panti said the exercise have saved more than one hundred million naira adding that, a lot of discrepancies and malpractices have been discovered in the payment of salaries.

The discrepancies according to him, were discovered in the course of the committee’s work include duplication of Bank verification number (BVN), multiple bank accounts number of some staff, duplication of civil servant control and identification numbers as well as some staff names appearing in payment vouchers but could not be found in the nominal roll with office of the Head of Service.

“The state’s staff strength of over twenty seven thousand (27,000) people have so far been reduced to about twenty six thousand (26,000) while some few ghost workers have also been discovered by the committee.”

Engr. Panti added that discrepancies were also found in the payment of staff grade levels due to the different figures in payment vouchers.

He added that out of the 95 Ministries, Departments and Agencies asked to submit their staff list, only 42 complied, saying “the committee will not pay October salary to any of the MDAs that refuse to submit theirs on or before 2nd October.”

He emphasized that the exercise was to seal the leakages in salary payment to civil servants and not to witch-hunt anyone, adding that anyone who feels aggrieved or affected by the exercise negatively is free to approach the committee.

Furthermore, Engr. Panti disclosed that when the exercise is completed, the Government might be in position to implement the N30,000 new minimum wage.
https://peoplereporters.com/i-verification-committee-saves-n100-million-exposed-1000-ghost-workers-in-niger-state/