Over N220 million monthly wage bill would no longer leave the coffers of Abia State Government following the discovery of 2,300 ghost workers in the state’s workforce.
The ghost workers were discovered in the ongoing verification exercise of civil servants and other public workers in the state.
Overtnews reports that the state Accountant General (AG), Deaconess Njum Onyemenam who made this known in Umuahia the state capital on Monday said the huge savings was made using a unified payment system.
Shortly after a meeting with the state Governor, Dr. Alex Otti Monday, the verification exercise is still ongoing and that the state government had expressed its hopes to make more savings.
“So far, we have been able to save N220 million from the ongoing verification of workers in the state, local governments and pensioners.
“Not less than 2,300 ghost names have been weeded out of the payrolls, using the unified payment system and we hope to still identify more as we continue with the exercise,” the Accountant General said.
The Accountant General hinted that workers’ salary in April left by the immediate past administration as well as June pensions to retirees would be paid.
Also, local government staff who had been skipped when the June salaries were paid, due to their failure to submit their verified payment schedule, will receive their salaries in the coming days.
