Ghost workers: We’ve saved N1.2b after cleaning payroll – Gov Hyacinth Alia

During an Extraordinary Stakeholders Meeting of the ruling, All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue State, Governor Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia revealed that his administration has successfully saved N1.2 billion through a recent staff verification exercise conducted on civil servants.

The state government uncovered approximately 2,500 ghost workers across the 23 Local Government Areas of the state.

Addressing the meeting on Friday, the governor stated that the first phase of the verification exercise helped identify and remove fraudulent activities from the state’s payroll. This led to elimination of over 2,500 ghost workers, resulting in savings of N1.2 billion for the government.

He further mentioned that the amount previously allocated to ghost schools and ghost workers, N1.6 billion, has now been reduced to N800 million.

Governor Hyacinth Alia also announced that the delayed salaries of teachers, which were held up due to the audit process, have now been resolved, and they have started receiving their salary payments.