The federal government has struck off 50,000 “ghost workers” from the State payroll this year, saving nearly N200 billion (630 million euros), the presidency said yesterday.
President Muhammadu Buhari who was voted into power last year, with a promise to stamp out endemic graft in Africa’s most populous country and biggest economy, said 11 people were undergoing probes in this connection and some of them were on trial.
“The Federal Government payroll has been rid of 50,000 ghost workers, saving the country a huge amount of 200 billion naira,” spokesman Garba Shehu said.
“The flagship programme of the Muhammadu Buhari Administration, to rid the system of fraud and instill good governance, is on course,” it said.
“Through a notable initiative, the Efficiency Unit of the Federal Ministry of Finance, the government has embarked on the continuous auditing of the salaries and wages of government departments.
“When the committee was constituted in February 2016, Federal Government’s monthly salary bill was N151bn excluding pensions.
“Now, the monthly salary warrant is N138bn, excluding pensions. Which means that the government is making a monthly saving of about N13bn. That is from February 2016 to date.”
Shehu added that the pension bill which was N15.5bn monthly as of February had now been reduced to N14.4bn.
The government last week promised to protect and hand out hefty rewards to whistle-blowers who could be entitled to between 2.5 and five per cent of funds recovered from information they provide about corruption.
Buhari has repeatedly accused the Government of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration of a “mind-boggling” looting of the treasury.
Dozens of prominent members of the Jonathan regime, including ministers, politicians and relatives, have been charged with graft. Several senior judges face charges of fraud, bribery and money laundering.
