Ekiti State governor, Kayode Fayemi, has said the state loses about N400m annually to local government ghost workers as he lamented how about 362 local government workers sit in Lagos State but earn salaries in Ekiti without justifying their salaries.
According to the State Commissioner for Local Government and Community Development, Adio Folayan, said the State Government has uncovered the payment of N20 million monthly as salary for 362 ghost workers in local governments.
Adio Folayan, made this known while presenting a State Staff Verification Committee report to Governor Kayode Fayemi in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday.
The committee was set up by government to audit the local government staff towards identifying those who are genuine or fake workers.
Mr Folayan said earlier preliminary findings put the ghost workers at 652.
”Further screening by the committee revealed that only 362 workers out of the initial figure were clarified to be on government payroll as at June 2019.
”The committee recommends that all illegal salary so far earned by the affected workers should be deducted from their pension and gratuity.
”It also recommended that all involved should be prosecuted for fraud, along with anyone or persons identified to be their accomplices,” he said.
The commissioner said there is need for the councils’ Heads of Department to start enforcing discipline.
”They must introduce schedules of duties to their officers so that errant officers would be punished for any infraction,” he said.
Receiving the report, Mr Fayemi expressed gratitude to members of the committee for their dedication and promised to look into the recommendations for immediate implementation.
Fayemi, says the state loses about N400m annually to local government ghost workers.
This was contained in a statement on Wednesday by his Chief Press Secretary, Olayinka Oyebode.
According to the statement titled, ‘Ekiti Loses N19.3m Monthly To LG Ghost Workers – Report’, Fayemi lamented that some local government workers sit in Lagos State but earn salaries in Ekiti without justifying their salaries.
The governor spoke on Tuesday while receiving the report of a committee set up by the state government on Local Government Staff Verification.
At least 362 ghost workers were discovered in the exercise to block financial loopholes in the local government system.
The statement quoted the governor as saying, “This is a matter we need to look into, you can’t sit in Lagos and be earning salaries in Ekiti for work you have not done. But it is our duty to stop that from happening, it is not the duty of the person that is cheating the system.
“The resources available to us is limited, we all know this, some pretend not to know but anyone that has a limited knowledge of government finances will know that already we spent a bulk of what comes to this state on emolument and we have many people who are not public servants or political appointees, yet they too expect that government will touch their lives.
“After this exercise the Committee said they saved N19.3m on a monthly basis, imagine where that will go. N19.3m on a monthly basis is almost N400m on an annual basis that is coming back to the coffers of the state. That will build two schools conveniently of the type that we have just built. It will meet the obligations that we have to workers in certain areas that are in dire needs of recruitment of workers whether they are health workers or teachers.”
Fayemi commended the co-Chairman of the Committee and Commissioner for Local Government Affairs, Adio Folayan, and the entire members for the job done.
“I am glad that NULGE was part of this, I am particularly happy that you included NULGE in the process. It is in the overall interest of the workers,” the governor added.
