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The Abia state’s biometric verification of civil servants and public servants has led to the discovery of no less than 2,300 ghost workers, as revealed by Gov. Alex Otti.
Gov. Alex Otti, in his May 29 inaugural address, promised to prioritize timely payment of workers’ salaries and strongly declared his determination to eradicate the ghost workers syndrome.
As stated by the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Kazie Uko, in a press release, the verification exercise yielded substantial benefits, saving the State Government a noteworthy N200 million on its monthly wage bill.
Read also: Alex Otti Advises Abia People On What To Do Against Ikpeazu
As reported in the statement, the State Accountant General, Deaconess Njum Onyemenam, pointed out that the successful adoption of a unified payment system resulted in considerable savings.
Speaking after a meeting with the Governor, Onyemenam provided an update that the verification exercise is still ongoing, and the government is enthusiastic about making 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.
As per the statement, the Accountant General guaranteed that the salaries of the Local Government staff, who were not paid in June due to their failure to submit the verified payment schedule, will be promptly disbursed to them this week.
