If you leave your job, it would seem logical that your salary would stop being paid, but not so for a number of former Nigerian civil servants.
They have managed to be employed elsewhere - sometimes in another country entirely - and yet continue to receive a wage from their former workplace.
News of this has reached the top and last week President Bola Tinubu ordered a crackdown.
“The culprits must be made to refund the money they have fraudulently collected,” he said.
Sabitu Adams, whose name we have changed to protect his identity, has not resigned from his position as a junior official at a government agency and still gets paid each month, despite leaving Nigeria two years ago.
He now works as a taxi driver in the UK, but told the BBC that he was not worried about losing the salary as he sees Mr Tinubu’s comments as an empty threat.
Mr Adams added that the loss of his monthly Nigerian salary of 150,000 naira ($100; £80) would not be a great hardship, as he earns a lot more driving a taxi.
“When I heard about the president's directive, I smiled because I know I am doing better here - and not worried,” the 36-year-old said.
But why not make it clear to the civil service that he had left?
“To be honest I didn’t resign because I wanted to leave that door open in case I choose to go back to my job after a few years.”
Like Mr Adams, more than 3.6 million Nigerians have relocated to other countries over the last two years, according to official statistics.
Many young Nigerians see little prospect of earning a good living in the country - a feeling exacerbated by the collapse in the value of the naira over the past year following the reforms introduced by Mr Tinubu since he became president.
It has become so common for young people to seek their fortunes outside the country, the term “japa” has been coined to describe the phenomenon.
It is a word from the Yoruba language meaning to escape or flee.
Mr Tinubu said he was "struck by the revelations the head of the civil service shared regarding employees who had relocated abroad while drawing salaries without formally resigning".
The president said that not only should the money be repaid but those who were complicit in allowing it to happened should be investigated too.
“Their supervisors and department heads must also be punished for aiding and abetting the fraud under their watch,” he said.
And this may have been the case for Mr Adams.
The UK-based taxi driver admitted that he continued to be paid thanks to those in his department: “I had a good understanding with my boss and he just let me leave."
Often in such cases the salary is divided between the supervisor who keeps quiet and the person being paid, maybe along with an HR representative.
But for Mr Adams it was even easier. "In my case it wasn’t like that as my boss was a relative."
The collapse in the value of the naira over the past year is pushing more young Nigerians to seek opportunities elsewhere
So-called "ghost-working" is a major problem in Nigeria. Despite several crackdowns it is believed that thousands of non-existent workers are still being paid. There appear to be very few checks and balances in place.
But this is the first time it has been suggested that people who have moved abroad are continuing to be paid their salaries on a large scale.
Auwal Yakasai, who retired as a director in charge of finance at Kano state's information ministry in 2021, said he had heard of such cases.
''To be honest I have never caught anyone red-handed,” Mr Yakasai, who worked for the government for 32 years, told the BBC.
“But I have heard numerous stories of such arrangements, where someone would still be receiving [a] salary after relocating or changing their place of work.”
Since he took office in May last year, Mr Tinubu has pledged to reduce the cost of governance and cut wastage.
In January, he directed that all official entourages to state and international events for himself and other government officials be slashed by 60%.
Nonetheless some have noted that there is much talk in Mr Tinubu’s administration without much action.
They cite plans to buy new planes worth millions of dollars for Mr Tinubu and his deputy Kashim Shettima as an example.
Another was when Mr Tinubu earlier this month launched a new official residence for Vice-President Shettima in the capital, Abuja, with a price tag of $13.6m (£11m).
And despite the president's statement about the foreign ghost-workers, he did not say exactly what he was doing to crack down on them and take action against those responsible.

He will be fine

Guyman01:
South East may likely support South South because of the synergy between the two zones.
Igbos have always wished for the success of their closest neighbours despite years of misconceptions created by Lagos Ibadan Expressway media which has now been effectively dispelled by aggressive Social media presence of Igbo youths.

South South and South East has always been brothers despite some persons tried to divide them along some unhealthy lines
I am from South South and I feel more comfortable with the Easterners

kaylardz:
No doubt, Tinubu is the most qualified among the candidates. His achievement in Lagos is audible to the deaf and visible to the blind. I pray our eastern brothers will one day eschew tribal and religion politics, and begin to support the best candidate for the growth and development of Nigeria.

God bless Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, our God sent incoming president!
God bless the federal republic of Nigeria!

Is it only your Eastern brothers that is against the candidacy of Tinubu?
How about APC/Tinubu supporters there

Some of you are tribalistic

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI lying in state in the chapel of the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery.

The pope words should be taken very seriously

Nice gesture

Mathematicians in the house should please help attend to these questions and do well to show their workings

MATHEMATICS
INSTRUCTIONS: ANSWER ALL
THEORY

Work out
1. 9×(3/4 + 1/3)
2. 6÷(34/9 - 1 7/9)
3. (4 1/3 + 9 2/3)÷(2/5 + 3/10)
4. Arrange 7/11, 4/13, 5/6, 3/7 in descending order.
5. Find the missing numbers or letters
2600/7800 = 26/t = u/39 = 1/v

Section B
Evaluate in base 2
1. (111 + 101) x (111 - 101)
2. 1 111 011 ÷ 101 001

3.Simplify (a+3b)/3 - (5a-3b)/6

4. Find the product of 2 1/2 and -4, and divide the result by -1 1/3

5. Translate (3×15-9)/6 into words

Mathematicians in the house should please help attend to these questions and do well to show their workings

MATHEMATICS
INSTRUCTIONS: ANSWER ALL
THEORY

Work out
1. 9×(3/4 + 1/3)
2. 6÷(34/9 - 1 7/9)
3. (4 1/3 + 9 2/3)÷(2/5 + 3/10)
4. Arrange 7/11, 4/13, 5/6, 3/7 in descending order.
5. Find the missing numbers or letters
2600/7800 = 26/t = u/39 = 1/v

Section B
Evaluate in base 2
1. (111 + 101) x (111 - 101)
2. 1 111 011 ÷ 101 001

3.Simplify (a+3b)/3 - (5a-3b)/6

4. Find the product of 2 1/2 and -4, and divide the result by -1 1/3

5. Translate (3×15-9)/6 into words

Mathematicians in the house should please help attend to these questions and do well to show their workings

MATHEMATICS
INSTRUCTIONS: ANSWER ALL
THEORY

Work out
1. 9×(3/4 + 1/3)
2. 6÷(34/9 - 1 7/9)
3. (4 1/3 + 9 2/3)÷(2/5 + 3/10)
4. Arrange 7/11, 4/13, 5/6, 3/7 in descending order.
5. Find the missing numbers or letters
2600/7800 = 26/t = u/39 = 1/v

Section B
Evaluate in base 2
1. (111 + 101) x (111 - 101)
2. 1 111 011 ÷ 101 001

3.Simplify (a+3b)/3 - (5a-3b)/6

4. Find the product of 2 1/2 and -4, and divide the result by -1 1/3

5. Translate (3×15-9)/6 into words

Mathematicians in the house should please help attend to these questions and do well to show their workings

MATHEMATICS
INSTRUCTIONS: ANSWER ALL
THEORY

Work out
1. 9×(3/4 + 1/3)
2. 6÷(34/9 - 1 7/9)
3. (4 1/3 + 9 2/3)÷(2/5 + 3/10)
4. Arrange 7/11, 4/13, 5/6, 3/7 in descending order.
5. Find the missing numbers or letters
2600/7800 = 26/t = u/39 = 1/v

Section B
Evaluate in base 2
1. (111 + 101) x (111 - 101)
2. 1 111 011 ÷ 101 001

3.Simplify (a+3b)/3 - (5a-3b)/6

4. Find the product of 2 1/2 and -4, and divide the result by -1 1/3

5. Translate (3×15-9)/6 into words

Mathematicians in the house should please help attend to these questions and do well to show their workings

MATHEMATICS
INSTRUCTIONS: ANSWER ALL
THEORY

Work out
1. 9×(3/4 + 1/3)
2. 6÷(34/9 - 1 7/9)
3. (4 1/3 + 9 2/3)÷(2/5 + 3/10)
4. Arrange 7/11, 4/13, 5/6, 3/7 in descending order.
5. Find the missing numbers or letters
2600/7800 = 26/t = u/39 = 1/v

Section B
Evaluate in base 2
1. (111 + 101) x (111 - 101)
2. 1 111 011 ÷ 101 001

3.Simplify (a+3b)/3 - (5a-3b)/6

4. Find the product of 2 1/2 and -4, and divide the result by -1 1/3

5. Translate (3×15-9)/6 into words

Mathematicians in the house should please help attend to these questions and do well to show their workings

MATHEMATICS
INSTRUCTIONS: ANSWER ALL
THEORY

Work out
1. 9×(3/4 + 1/3)
2. 6÷(34/9 - 1 7/9)
3. (4 1/3 + 9 2/3)÷(2/5 + 3/10)
4. Arrange 7/11, 4/13, 5/6, 3/7 in descending order.
5. Find the missing numbers or letters
2600/7800 = 26/t = u/39 = 1/v

Section B
Evaluate in base 2
1. (111 + 101) x (111 - 101)
2. 1 111 011 ÷ 101 001

3.Simplify (a+3b)/3 - (5a-3b)/6

4. Find the product of 2 1/2 and -4, and divide the result by -1 1/3

5. Translate (3×15-9)/6 into words

lhordspy:
100 people rally in a state with over 4m+ voters...

The joke is on you all

Since 1999, has Bauchi state ever recorded even 1.5 million votes together across all parties

Be deceiving yourself with registered voters

orikoku:
Hmmmm. Thank God for nairaland. I for fall for it.

Please don’t invest in it

It happens everywhere

Zilingo are there to rip you

Zilingo is fraud please do not be involved with it

Hello Nairalanders!
I am here to warn about a fraud called ZILINGO
It is an online E-commerce platform where one makes daily order and given a certain commission, before you become a member you’ll be required to deposit a certain amount of USDT (cryptocurrency) to a certain address and afterwards be encouraged to add more people and they have certain level for different types of people and the more you invite the more money you earn, please do not fall for this, it is pure SCAM, you may not not be allowed to withdraw the money they will claim you have made to your personal usdt address and they will give you all kinds of excuses, they have several numbers on WhatsApp they chat with, please don’t get involved with ZILINGO.
They will advise you build your team but it’s all scam.
ZILINGO IS SCAM
ZILINGO IS FRAUD
ZILINGO IS FAKE
BEWARE OF ZILINGO

helinues:


Tinubu wouldn't have been Apc presidential candidate had Pdp zoned their presidency to Souththern Nigeria and present Christian candidate

Oil dey ur head
If PDP had chose Wike, APC would have presented Amaechi or Osibanjo

jclassiq:


No vex, How much be this meal like this?

2,500

Jollyman19:



I guess this somewhere behind zenith bank headquarters @ VI.

Close to Manor VFS, before the chicken republic in Lekki

Tokskob2008:
Lol, very unprofessional of them. When no be say you wan re-kill the chicken ontop your indomie

Matter weak me o
Dem for just tell me say no cutlery

It was a hilarious moment for me in particular
So I entered this little Lagos eatery on the Island and met two guys there, I made a request for Indomie and chicken and base on the fact that I have established a good friendly rapport with them, when the Indomie was served with fork, I requested for a knife cutlery and look at what I got

Make I nor lie shall, the Indomie sweet well well

rolams:
To tackle the APC aspirant.

The North Sabi politics ooo!

Is it not logical for everyone to do anywhere, why do you guys just love overating the North

Don’t go, too cheap

If you analyze this post closely you will discover two important details ... One is the selective use of colloquial abstract representation of normative words owing to the distinction in regulatory and derogatory affirmative relations to binary sentences. The second is that even I don't know what I said above

Okay

Okay na

Hallabee1:


Aje...

So make we fry stone abi

Yes, fry and eat it

God rest his soul