The Federal Ministry of Finance on Sunday, February 29, stated that no fewer than 23,846 ghost workers names have been removed from the Federal Government payroll.
As a result of this, the wage bill has reduced by N2.293 billion monthly,
A Federal Ministry of Finance statement said: “this figure represents a percentage of the number of non-existent workers who had hitherto been receiving salary from various ministries, departments and agencies”.
The BVN audit has also reduced the list of military pensioners by 19,203. “The Military Pension Board has revised the amount payable for its due pension contributions on a monthly basis by N575million, following its annual verification exercise for military retirees.
“This reduced the number of pensioners by 19,203 as a result of deaths since the last verification exercise in 2012,” the statement by Festus Akanbi, the spokesman for Finance Minister Mrs Kemi Adeosun, said.
The statement added that further investigation of other suspected cases will continue in conjunction with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The removal of non- existent workers from federal payroll and the attendant savings on salaries was made possible “because of the ongoing BVN-based staff audit and enrolment to the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS)”, the statement added
The Federal Government is also making efforts to recover “salary balances in bank accounts as well as any pension contributions in respect of the deleted workers. This involves active collaboration with the concerned banks and the National Pension Commission (Pencom).”
The Federal Government, the ministry said, is determined to continue the verification programme on a regular periodic basis in its efforts to reduce personnel cost.
Since personnel costs represent over 40 per cent of total government expenditure, the Federal Government has vowed to continue to strengthen its payroll controls.
“It plans to undertake periodic checks and to utilise Computer Assisted Audit Techniques under its new Continuous Audit Programme. This will ensure that all payments are accurate and valid. Requirements for new entrants joining the Federal Civil Service have also been enhanced to prevent the introduction of fictitious employees in future” the statement said.
