Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun has revealed how 23,000 ghosts have been receiving huge monthly salaries and allowance, saying that they would be handed over to the anti graft agencies in the country to investigate the,
Adeosun who defended her ministry’s 2016 budget allocation before the Senate Committee on Finance today, said that her ministry discovered the 23,000 ghost workers in the federal civil service by the panel investigating payments of multiple salaries in the Federal Civil Service.
The Minister said that banks that connived with the workers to pad the Federal government payroll are going to be prosecuted too, saying: “we will not only sack them, we will ensure the recovery of the money they have been collecting over the years from the Federal government.”
Adeosun said that the panel was able to uncover the ghost workers due to introduction of Bank Verification Number (BVN), adding that the failure of the Integrated Payroll Personnel Information System (IPPIS) to effectively deal with the issue of ghost workers in the federal civil service led to the unraveling.
According to the minister, investigation is still ongoing and it will be concluded in a month’s time. [myad]
