Abia uncovers 2,300 ‘ghost workers’

The Abia State Government says it has discovered 2,300 ghosts in its payroll system and weeded them out, thus saving over N220m on monthly wage bill.

The state said the ghost workers were detected following ongoing verification of civil servants in the state.

The Abia State Accountant General, Deaconess Njum Onyemenam, stated this in Umuahia, the state capital, on Monday.

Onyemenam, who spoke after a meeting with the state Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, said that the verification exercise was still ongoing.

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“So far, we have been able to save N220m from the ongoing verification of workers in the state, local governments and pensioners.

“Not less than 2,300 ghost workers  have been weeded out from the payroll, using the unified payment system and we hope to still identify more as we continue with the exercise,” the accountant general said.

She confirmed reiterated the governor’s directive last week that workers would be paid the arrears of April salaries left behind by the immediate-past administration as well as June pensions to retirees.

She also disclosed that local government workers, who did not get June salaries due to their failure to submit their verified payment schedule, will receive their salaries this week.

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