The aftermath of the just concluded verification exercise for Zamfara state civil servants had resulted in uncovering a total (2,363) ghost workers that are on the state government payroll.
Spokesman of the office of Zamfara Governor Sulaiman Bala Idris said Governor Lawal constituted a committee headed by the state Head of Service in August 2024 with the mandate to conduct the verification exercise of state workers.
The statement further revealed that the verification process has highlighted the peak of the salary racketeering as (220) minors receiving monthly pay as civil servants was detected.
The report of the committee further states that the verification exercise becomes necessary as a prelude to the state’s government effort in implementing the new N70,000 minimum wages which was slated for March 2025.
“To improve the efficiency of the Zamfara State civil and public service, Governor Dauda Lawal formed a high-level committee tasked with verifying the state government’s payroll” the state governments added.
Those in the committee include, Zamfara State Head of Service, the Commissioner of Finance, Chairmen of the Zamfara State labor unions, the state Accountant General, the state Auditor General, the Statistician General and the Executive Secretary of ZITDA as secretary.
“The committee’s primary responsibility involved verifying and integrating nominal and payroll systems and creating electronic employee files” the statement added.
“The committee’s final report submitted to Governor Dauda Lawal highlighted that 27,109 permanent workers were cleared while workers with questionable employment include 2,363 ghost workers, 1082 civil servants who are due for retirement, 395 contract staff, 261 not on the nominal roll, 213 on study leave, 220 minors in employment, and 67 workers on secondment.
“The report highlighted that 75 workers’s first appointment date is not in compliance with the issue date & all of them were minors at the time of employment”.
“During the verification, 2,363 ghost workers were exposed. They were paid a total of N193,642,097.19 every month”.
“The statement “1082 workers are due for retirement, and they collect a total sum of N80,542,298.26 monthly. At the same time, five workers found to be on secondment were paid monthly N354,927.60”.
“The verification committee recommended suspending 207 workers who were not cleared. They are paid a total salary of N16,370,645.90 monthly”.
“The committee found 12 workers on the payroll but not in the database and collected a monthly salary of N726,594”.
“These verification exercises are ongoing efforts to monitor the Zamfara workforce and ensure transparency and accountability in service, especially as the minimum wage payments begin in March of this year.”
