Governor Hyacinth Alia announced that during the initial phase of the staff verification and payroll audit for teachers and Local Government employees in the state, they uncovered 2,500 fictitious workers. This information was conveyed in a statement issued by Alia’s Chief Press Secretary, Tersoo Kula, on Thursday in Makurdi.
The governor disclosed that the payroll has been thoroughly revised and the names of the ghost workers have been eliminated. Additionally, the government identified phantom schools, instances of double dipping, illegal hiring, salary padding, payments to deceased or retired individuals, and unauthorized replacements.
Governor Alia expressed regret over the delayed payment of salaries for teachers in primary and secondary schools, as well as Local Government staff. The decision to delay payment was made after discovering extensive wage bill padding and other fraudulent activities within the payroll.
He assured that salaries for verified workers would be disbursed before the end of the week. Moreover, he emphasized that the government is implementing measures to safeguard the system from future occurrences of ghost workers and payroll fraud.
Read Here: Rivers Govt. sacks 1,700 varsity staff, demands return of appointment letter
