- Govts pay billions of naira to thousands of non-existent workers
- How civil servants plunder scarce state resources
- It’s a reflection of corruption in public service – Experts
The three tiers of government in Nigeria are losing billions of naira annually to the seemingly intractable ghost worker phenomenon which has continued to ravage the civil service system over the years.
This is as the federal, state and local governments are paying hundreds of millions of naira monthly to thousands of non-existent workers captured in their respective payrolls, thereby draining the governments of resources that could have been channeled into other productive ventures.
The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Folashade Yemi-Esan, said, on Wednesday, that the verification exercise of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System had exposed 1,618 civil servants with “fake/illegal’ employment letters.”
She also said that so far, “69,308 civil servants who participated in the compulsory verification exercise have been fully integrated into the IPPIS after their verifications.”
She said this on Wednesday in Abuja, during a parley with media executives in commemoration of the 2024 Civil Service Week Celebrations.
She said her fight against corruption in the civil service had led the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to identify and investigate over 3,600 public servants.
“There are efforts to tackle Nigerians who have relocated abroad doing new jobs, but are still under the payroll of the civil service. The Federal Government is going hard on them, as many of them are voluntarily resigning after the physical verifications,” Yemi-Esan said.
She said civil servants who were outside the country without official permission and still on the payroll would be sacked after the ongoing verification was completed.
She said she did an overview of the report sent to her and discovered that a number of workers who had gone out of the country and were earning salaries were not even in the core ministries but mostly in the parastatals.
“It is a Nigerian thing. We are running hard against the culture that tolerates it. Outsiders don’t know the bashing we get every day trying to do the right thing. I expect that once the verification report comes anybody who is not in the country automatically loses his job. What we discovered in the last month of that verification is that most of them are now resigning their appointment, which is a good development,” Yemi-Esan said.
The Point’s analysis of the figure shows that the Federal Government could be losing up to N582,480 million annually to these ghost workers, assuming the 1,618 figure given by Yemi-Esan is accurate, and assuming that each of these 1,618 ‘ghost workers’ earns a minimum monthly salary of N30,000, which is still the national minimum wage.
This will sum up to N48, 540, 00 million per month and about N582, 480 million in a year.
A lawyer and labour rights activist, Femi Aborisade, said the direct implication of the ghost worker phenomenon is looting of money which was supposedly used to pay the salaries and allowances of those non-existent workers.
“The Point’s analysis of the figure shows that the Federal Government could be losing up to N582,480 million annually to these ghost workers, assuming the 1,618 figure given by Yemi-Esan is accurate, and assuming that each of these 1,618 ‘ghost workers’ earns a minimum monthly salary of N30,000, which is still the national minimum wage.”
“Thus, the resources that should have been used for public good are illegally diverted to private pockets or bank accounts. It also unnecessarily gives the false impression that the number of workers employed in the public sector is higher than what the reality is. Thus, it contributes to the perception that the recurrent budget is disproportionately high,” Aborisade argued.
Benue removes 2,500 ghost workers from payroll
Benue State governor, Hyacinth Alia, also disclosed that at the conclusion of the first phase of an extensive staff verification and payroll audit for all teachers and local government staff, over 2,500 ghost workers uncovered have already been removed from the payroll.
The governor who disclosed this through the Chief Press Secretary, Tersoo Kula, expressed regrets over the delay in payment of salaries of teachers in primary and secondary schools, as well as the local government staff, saying the delay was due to the verification exercise.
According to him, “the delay in the payment of salaries of the above-mentioned workers was taken after the government discovered mindless padding of the wage bill, and other fraudulent manipulations on their payroll. So far, we have identified ghost workers, ghost schools, double dipping, unlawful employment, salary padding, payment to dead or retired individuals, unlawful replacement, and inflation of the wage bill, as some of the payroll infractions discovered from the audit.”
The governor assured that workers who were successfully screened will receive their salaries before the end of this week, noting that the government is not only fishing out ghost workers and removing the padding associated with payroll fraud, but also putting in measures to ensure the systems are protected going forward.
He said, “This decision became necessary after the discovery, to enable the government to sanitize and cleanse the payroll, to ascertain the true wage bill of the state and to know the genuine workers that are worth their wages.”
Niger uncovers 200 ghost workers on payroll
Also in Niger State, the Commissioner for Finance, Lawal Maikano, has revealed that the ministry recently uncovered approximately 200 fake names listed on the state government’s payroll.
He disclosed this during an interview with journalists in Minna on Friday.
Maikano explained that the discovery was a result of the technology implemented by the state government to scrutinize the state civil service.
“Governor Umaru Bago’s administration is resolute in closing all loopholes and leaks. To achieve this, we are employing technology to streamline these processes, which we initiated within the first two months of our tenure.
“We have removed approximately 100 to 200 names from the payroll that were nonexistent. If they were genuine, we would have received numerous complaints about non-payment of salaries,” he stated.
He mentioned that the state employs about 25,000 individuals and that the state government expends N2.5 billion monthly on salary payments.
However, he clarified that the funding for the 2024 budget, totaling N613 billion, would come from loans, Federal allocation, revenue generation, and other sources.
2,300 ghost workers removed from payroll, N200m saved – Abia Govt
Similarly, the Abia State Government says it has saved over N200 million on the monthly wage bill, following an ongoing verification of civil servants and other public workers that eliminated over 2,300 ghost workers from the state’s payroll.
The state Accountant General, Njum Onyemenam, revealed that the saving was made using a unified payment system.
She confirmed that workers had received the payment of April salaries as well as June pensions to retirees.
Tinubu orders sanctions for civil servants collecting salaries after relocating abroad
Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu has directed that all civil servants drawing salaries from the government after relocating abroad should be made to refund the money.
The President also directed that the supervisors and department heads of the culprits must also be punished for aiding and abetting the fraud under their watch.
Tinubu’ gave the directive on Saturday at the award night organised by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation to commemorate the 2024 Civil Service Week.
The event was also to honour some outstanding civil servants in core ministries.
Represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, the President expressed dismay over the attitude of the ghost workers.
“During my recent visit to South Africa, I kept abreast of the week’s activities.
“I was particularly struck by the revelations the Head of the Civil Service shared regarding employees who had relocated abroad while drawing salaries without formally resigning.
“It is heartening to hear that measures have been taken to address this issue, but we must ensure those responsible are held accountable and restitution is made.
“The culprits must be made to refund the money they have fraudulently collected.
“Their supervisors and department heads must also be punished for aiding and abetting the fraud under their watch,” Tinubu said.
He reiterated that the government would take appropriate measures to ensure they were punished and the money refunded to the government treasury.
The President acknowledged the challenges in the civil service sector and reiterated his commitment to address them for optimal performance.
“Our administration acknowledges the challenges the civil service is facing.
“I want to assure you that we are committed to ensuring the welfare and development of all civil servants to deliver optimal performance for the growth of our nation.
“Over the past year, I have provided all the necessary support to the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation to ensure the continued stability of the civil service.
“I also supported the office in implementing far-reaching policies and reforms capable of improving efficiency and service delivery,” the president said.
Other activities to mark the night were the presentation of the top three prizes to the winners and additional N500, 000 cash prizes to 40 workers.
Making the presentation, Folasade Yemi-Esan, the HOCSF announced the top three prizes won by three lucky officers at the event.
“The Star Prize is a Brand New 2023 JAC JS4 Luxury Model SUV; the second is a 2 Bedroom semi-detached bungalow; and the third top prize is a serviced plot of land measuring 400 sqm.
“I am also pleased to announce that the Nigeria Customs Service has graciously committed to donating six Toyota Camry Cars in support of the 2024 Civil Service Week.
“The office has started receiving the vehicles, and these will be presented as prizes to the next set of runner-up best-performing officers,” she said.
Mercy Ilori, a staff of the Ministry of Transportation, who won the star prize appreciated Yemi-Esan, the Federal Government on behalf of other awardees for the gesture and the honour done to them.
How civil servants plunder scarce state resources
A cross-section of Nigerians who spoke to The Point put the blame squarely on the shoulders of a sick system that allows corruption of all descriptions to fester.
“There is so much impunity in the system which should be addressed. A system that allows one single individual to keep $2.1 billion and distribute such among politicians as we witnessed during the 2023 general elections is a sick system. It is a systemic problem,” said Bashir Lawal, a former secretary general, Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria.
On his part, Aborisade of the Centre for Labour Studies, Ibadan, said the persistent problem of ghost workers is a reflection of corruption in the public service.
“Those who benefit are at the top of the public service in collusion with politicians who collect the salaries and allowances of such non-existent workers. Ordinary workers do not benefit. So, we cannot blame ordinary workers,” he said.
Though huge discoveries have been made over the years, some commentators regret that no credible step has been taken to recover the money and expose and punish the perpetrators, which is partly why the malaise has continued to fester.
“Government’s refusal to take steps to recover the money is an endorsement of corruption, a manifestation of impunity which encourages intending looters to seek to perfect their crime,” Eze Onyekpere, lead director, Centre for Social Justice, said.
“Though huge discoveries have been made over the years, some commentators regret that no credible step has been taken to recover the money and expose and punish the perpetrators, which is partly why the malaise has continued to fester.”
Aborisade said the solution lies in running the public sector transparently.
“Government and unions should collaborate to establish the number of workers employed by biometric capturing. Salaries and allowances should be paid by electronic transfer to such established workers. The list of workers employed from time to time and the units to which they are deployed should be made accessible to trade unions and members of the public so that unions would have an opportunity to confirm that such persons are truly their members. The list of workers in every unit should be published on departmental notice boards and on the internet which should be available for verification and or objections by workers, trade unions and members of the public,” he stated.
For Lawal, there is a need for every Nigerian to support the fight against corruption. At the level of ASCSN, he said they had over the years been educating their members to shun corrupt practices and members had substantially complied.
He said those the government claimed to have discovered were not their members, challenging the government to publish the names purportedly discovered as ghost workers.
“The issue of ‘ghost workers’ in the civil service has remained a recurring decimal under successive administrations, military and civilian. The spectre, which ought to be an aberration in any proper self-accounting and self-auditing bureaucratic system, is now a national scourge that appears insurmountable. In the past two decades, almost every worker’s verification exercise carried out by government agencies has thrown up thousands of fake workers who are on the payroll. Despite the fact that these ghost workers had been receiving regular salaries and allowances running into billions of Naira, questions persist as to why they are still in business,” Lawal added.
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Bola Aidi, said the issue is not discovering ghost workers as the regular announcements have become rather boring.
“What Nigerians would like to know are the steps being taken to deal with confirmed cases and prevent new ones. We ought to know, for instance, how and when some of these “ghost” names got on the payroll and for how long they have been there. For now, there is no sign that anything is being done to stop the fraud. The security agencies should also tell Nigerians into what accounts the monies so fraudulently drawn have been paid over the years; and the total sum the nation has lost so far to this organised crime.
“In 2011, Olusegun Aganga, the then Finance Minister revealed that the Federal Government had removed 43,000 ghost workers from its payroll. Two years later, the then Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala revealed that the introduction of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) had that year culminated in the uncovering of 46,821 ghost workers and saved the nation N118.9 billion. We must seriously interrogate why it is so easy for the perpetrators of the crime to do what they do effortlessly and yet are not caught. Transparency and accountability remain essential to tackling the problem.
“It is unacceptable that Nigerians should be periodically regaled with tales of discovery of ghost workers, while no visible attempts are made to get to the bottom of such fraud and bring the wrath of the law to bear on its perpetrators. This mindless plunder of scarce state resources has lasted long enough. It must be stopped forthwith. Since this blatant fraud emanates from the manipulation of payroll technology, the solution in plugging such pilfering will require blocking prospective technological loopholes. Nigerians are tired of reports of how many ghost workers that have been uncovered and how much has been saved therefrom. We want a closure to these channels through which humongous public funds are stolen. Above all, it is time the perpetrators were unmasked and punished,” Aidi said.