Kwara State Personnel Database Development Committee says it has uncovered a total of 8,863 suspected ghost personnel on the payroll of both the state and local governments, adding that the discovery saves the state over N437 million monthly.
A Press Statement released on Tuesday in Ilorin, Kwara state capital quoted Isiaka Gold, the Alternate Chairman of the Committee, while submitting the Committee’s report to Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, claimed that 8,863 personnel could not be assessed during screening exercise.
He said, “8, 863 personnel could not be verified in the just concluded staff biometric verification exercise that the development could potentially save both the State and local governments N437, 500, 513 monthly.”
Gold said that, as at the time of commencing the verification exercise, the total number of staff on the payroll of both the state and local governments was 81, 446, but only 72, 583 of the workers and pensioners scaled through the verification process.
Giving a further breakdown of the report, the alternate chairman revealed that of the 35, 656 workers on the State government payroll, only 31, 652 were cleared and verified, leaving a total of 4,004 unverified personnel.
He said out of the 45, 790 workers and pensioners on the payroll of the 16 Local government areas of the State, only 40, 931 were verified, which leaves out 4, 859 unverified.
The Committee however, recommended that the verification exercise should be continuous and that the government should implement a harmonized staff identification system, certificate verification and clock-in system, which will be deployed by the consultant at no cost to the government.
In his response, Governor Ahmed endorsed all the findings of the committee and also directed the State Ministry of Finance to adopt the Committee’s report to prepare the payroll of both the local and state government workers henceforth.
The governor, however, said that the ministry should warehouse the projected savings until it is ascertained that all workers and pensioners are verified.
