TWENTY-TWO THOUSAND GHOST WORKERS UNCOVERED IN BAUCHI CIVIL SERVICE.N235M. SAVED

From Austine Tsenzughul,Bauchi 

A committee set up by Bauchi state Gov.Bala Mohammed to ascertain Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) of the state civil servants and pensioners,has found  22,448 ghost workers and pensioners on  the state’s wage bill.

It also discovered that the ghosts who are on the state and local government nominal pay rolls have drained the state of over N225,519000,731 million between October, 2019 and June, 2020.

Chairman  Sen.Adamu Ibrahim Gumba announced at a press conference at the end of his committee’s  assignment in Bauchi.

Gum a who was represented by Mr. Abdon Dalla Gin,Senior Special Advicer to Bauchi Governor on Civil Service Matters, said the committee perused details of 41,448 civil servants’salary and pensioners’ pay rolls of the state and the 20 local government councils of the state.

His words”out of the 41,448 civil servants and pensioners given to the committee, 22,448 could not show up for physical verification and authentication of their BVN details as requested by the committee”.

According to Mr.Gin”the committee extended its allotted time and made extensive public announcements for pensioners and civil servants to come forward for verification, but the  not show up”.

Mr. Dalla Gin added that the.  C verification committee identified ” the totality of sum of N225,519,737 as savings for the government from the verification and implementation exercise, from the October 2019 to June, 2020.”

Parts of the discoveries of the committee, according to Mr. Dalla Gin include 112 state and 284 local government workers failed to appear for physical verification due to death; overage cashing over 20 million monthly.

“Discovery of 312 deceased Local Government Pensioners on the nominal and payroll. The monthly value is over 9 million naira. They have been permanently removed from both the nominal roll and payroll,” Mr. Dalla Gin said.

Mr. Gin further revealed that the committee uncovered 11 workers collecting double salaries on government payroll through their July-September statement of account; three workers were found to be collecting salaries from the state and N-Power scheme programme.

To Mr. Dalla Gin, the Bank Verification Committee recommended that government to appoint team of experts to review the pre-service Scheme Policy to avoid waste and ensure maximum financial savings.

“Local Government Pension Desk Officers to be in possession of comprehensive and up-to-date list of their pensioners for accuracy; the Ministry of Health to constitute a Medical  Board for the purpose of conducting an examination on one staff discovers to be mentally ill,” Mr. Dalla Gin said.

Mr.Gin commended the forsight of Governor Bala Mohammed for giving the committee the nod to execute its recommendations for “more efficiency and cost saving .”

Mr Gin said the committee was able to complete its assignment despite being suspended twice for reasons COVID-19; suspension and reconstruction of the Secretariat of the committee.

The term of reference of the committee was to authenticate the Bank Verification Number of over 41,000 workers and pensioners on both the state and local governments payrolls.

The committee,made up of 20 members with representation from the organised labour  is said to spent extra hours working deligently