By Faruq Olanrewaju Abbas
Anyone who has been following the Osun State Payroll Crisis between Sally Tibbot Consulting Nigeria Limited and the Osun State Government cannot help but be struck by the level of disorganisation displayed in managing the crisis and handling the Osun State Government’s dispute with a contractor it voluntarily nominated.
The Osun State Government started on a good note by engaging Sally Tibbot Consulting Nigeria Limited to conduct a holistic staff verification and payroll re-engineering exercise of all government employees. However, the way it subsequently handled the presentation of Sally Tibbot’s report and the issues arising from it clearly suggests that the State Government lacks internal organisation and does not operate based on established structures.
After Sally Tibbot concluded its audit, it discovered that there were 8,448 ghost workers and 6,713 ghost pensioners who were illegally drawing N13.7 billion in salaries from the State Government annually. It then advised the State Government to implement its report by removing these ghost workers and pensioners from the payroll. According to Sally Tibbot, the Osun State Government also paid it N79,000,000 (Seventy-Nine million naira) to build an Automated Payroll Administration System (APAS) that would help it to prevent a recurrence of the payroll fraud, but the Governor’s Chief of Staff reportedly told them their services were no longer required and that the Government had no need for the APAS. It should be noted that clause 2.8 of Sally Tibbot’s contract with the Osun State Government clearly mandates Sally Tibbot to build the APAS for the Government.
After receiving Sally Tibbot’s report, the Osun State Government stated that it conducted its own re-verification exercise and confirmed the existence of 8,015 workers and 5,830 retirees, out of the total figure of ghost workers and pensioners declared by Sally Tibbot. In effect, the State Government disputed Sally Tibbot’s figures but implicitly admitted that there were 433 ghost workers and 883 ghost pensioners.
After reviewing the entire facts of the payroll crisis and watching the interviews granted to Channels TV by Ms Saadat Ottun, the CEO of Sally Tibbot and the Osun State Commissioner for Information, Mr Kolapo Alimi, the following questions came to mind:
1. If the Osun Government knew that it had the capacity to conduct a re-verification exercise, why did it engage Sally Tibbot to conduct the initial verification exercise in the first place?
2. Why did Sally Tibbot first present its report to Dr Deji Adeleke and the Governor of Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke, before presenting it to the State Executive Council?
3. What is the Government’s basis for appointing the Governor’s Chief of Staff, Hon Kazeem Akinleye, as the Chairman of the Action Committee tasked with reviewing and implementing Sally Tibbot’s report? Why was the Commissioner for Finance or the Accountant General, both of whom clearly have the competence for such a sensitive assignment, not appointed?
4. Why has the Osun State Government failed to implement the Automated Payroll Administration System (APAS), which it paid Sally Tibbot about N79,000,000.00(Seventy-nine million naira) to build? If the Government now believes that Sally Tibbot lacked the competence to build a credible platform, why did it engage Sally Tibbot to build the platform in the first place?
5. During her interview on Channels TV, the CEO of Sally Tibbot stated that one of the findings in the audit report is that one bank account with a BVN Number was receiving the salaries for 962 individuals monthly. Is this correct?
6. During her interview on Channels TV, the CEO of Sally Tibbot stated that one of the findings in the audit report is that another bank account with a BVN Number was receiving the salaries for 5,616 individuals. Is this correct?
7. During her interview on Channels TV, the CEO of Sally Tibbot stated that one of the findings in the audit report is that some individuals were being paid salaries multiple times every month. Is this correct?
8. During her interview on Channels TV, the CEO of Sally Tibbot stated that one of the findings in the audit report is that the 12,000 workers who were previously sacked by Governor Ademola Adeleke were only sacked on paper, while their salaries were being drawn illegally. Is this correct?
9. Did the State Executive Council ever debate Sally Tibbot’s report at any of its meetings? What was the outcome of its debate?
10. Why did the Osun State Governor wait until 20 February 2026, over fifteen months after receiving the report, and only after the CEO of Sally Tibbot’s interview with Channels TV, before forwarding a petition to the EFCC?
I hope that the Osun State Government will provide a detailed and transparent response to these questions, so that we, the people of Osun State, can determine where the truth lies in the dispute between Sally Tibbot and the Osun State Government.
Finally, I urge the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to thoroughly investigate this matter and prosecute anyone found to have stolen government funds through the ghost workers scheme. It is quite unfortunate that while many communities in Osun State (including Afaake in Ejigbo Local Government, where I come from) lack good roads, health care facilities and schools, some individuals appear to have been siphoning millions of naira from government coffers for years.
Faruq Olanrewaju Abbas (FOA)
Disclaimer: This article reflects the views of the author and is published in the public interest. It is based on information available in the public domain and does not make any definitive findings of guilt. All persons and institutions mentioned are presumed innocent unless proven otherwise by a court of competent jurisdiction.
