Nigeria’s Ministry of Finance has announced the discovery of 23,846 non-existent workers in the federal civil service, following an audit which showed that the ghosts have been receiving the sum of N2.29 Billion as monthly salaries from multiple sources.
The ministry said that the removal of the ghosts from the government payroll was effected through biometric data and a bank verification number (BVN) to identify holders of bank accounts into which salaries were being paid. This showed the names of some civil servants receiving a salary not correspond to the names linked to the bank accounts. In some cases individuals were also receiving salaries from multiple sources.
Special adviser to Kemi Adeosun, the Finance minister, Festus Akanbi who took office in November and soon after set up an efficiency unit to cut waste declared in a statement: “the federal government has removed 23,846 non-existent workers from its payroll. Consequently, the salary bill for February 2016 has reduced by 2.293bn naira when compared to December 2015 when the BVN audit process commenced.”
He said the finance ministry would now undertake “periodic checks and utilize computer-assisted audit techniques” and also introduce tougher monitoring of new entrants to the civil service to avert further abuse of the system.
“The ongoing exercise, which is part of the cost-saving and anti-corruption agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, is key to funding the deficit in the 2016 budget,” said Akanbi.
The ministry, which said personnel costs represent more than 40% of total government expenditure, said it had so far checked the details of about 312,000 civil servants.
Akanbi said the ministry is working with the financial crimes agency and the National Pension Commission to identify irregularities and recover salaries and pension contributions related to the deleted workers. [myad]
