As state saves over N200m monthly
Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
No fewer than 2,300 ghost workers have been discovered in Abia State following the on-going biometric verification of civil servants and public servants in the state.
A statement by the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Kazie Uko, said the State Government had also saved over N200 million on monthly wage bill as a result of the verification exercise.
The statement quoted the State Accountant General, Deaconess Njum Onyemenam, as saying that the huge savings were made using a unified payment system.
It further quoted Onyemenam, who spoke after a meeting with the Governor as saying that the verification exercise was still ongoing and that the government 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.
“She confirmed that following Governor Otti’s directive, government had last week paid the arrears of April salaries, left behind by the immediate past administration and also June pensions to retirees,” the statement added.
According to the statement, the Accountant General assured that 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 this week.”
Ikengaonline had reported that Gov. Otti had during his inaugural speech on May 29, promised to regularly pay workers but vowed to frontally combat ghost workers syndrome.
Immediate-past administration of Gov Okezie Ikpeazu owed workers and pensioners for as high as 24 months.
Otti who promised to pay salaries on or before the 28th day of every month, also promised to clear all outstanding arrears of salaries and pensions before December 31.
