Abia Discovers 2,300 Ghost Workers, Saves N220m Monthly

The Abia State government has said it is saving N220m monthly following the discovery of 2,300 ghost names on its payroll.

The over N220 million was discovered following the on-going verification of civil servants and other public workers in the state. State Accountant-General, Deaconess Njum Onyemenam, disclosed that the huge savings were made using a unified payment system.

Onyemenam, who spoke Monday after a meeting with Gov. Alex Otti, said that the government hoped to make more savings from the on-going verification exercise.

She said; “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 the governor’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.

“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 this week”, she said.