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Tag: ghost workers

  • Ghost workers: EFCC smashes nine-man syndicate behind N1bn fraud

    Ghost workers: EFCC smashes nine-man syndicate behind N1bn fraud

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission( EFCC) has smashed a nine-man syndicate behind N1 billion salary fraud involving 599 ghost workers.

    The anti-graft agency has also arrested a couple, Dayo Usman Aliyu and Ronke Usman, who were said to be members of the syndicate.

    The couple, who are staff of the Accountant-General of the Federation, were said to have exploited the gaps in the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS).

    Another suspected member of the syndicate, Bede Anyanwu, an Accountant with the Federal Ministry of Environment, was quizzed and released on administrative bail.

    According to findings made by our correspondent, the EFCC had received a formal complaint from the  Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, on the huge number of ghost workers.

    The Ministry was said to have recommended 399 ghost workers to EFCC for probe but in the course of investigation, the commission uncovered 200 others.

    The nation was believed to have lost more than N1 billion to the syndicate at the time the Minister contacted the anti-graft agency.

    It was learnt that the EFCC chairman constituted a team to probe the pay fraud, leading to the arrest of nine civil servants from some Ministries, Departments and Agencies(MDAs).

    It was gathered that the alleged involvement of the couple in the IPPIS shocked EFCC investigators.

    A top EFCC source said: “The Ministry of Finance reported 399 ghost workers for investigation. The commission’s investigation has uncovered additional 200.

    “A total of nine suspects have already been quizzed at the Abuja headquarters. But the agency is spreading its dragnets wide as cases have been forwarded to some zonal offices of the EFCC for further investigation.

    “The Port Harcourt, Lagos and Ibadan offices of the commission are handling the cases of some suspects that were picked up in Umuahia and Abeokuta.”

    Investigation revealed that the arrest of the couple in OAGF provided the lead for the busting of the syndicate.

    The source said:  ”The syndicate led by one Dayo Usman Aliyu, a staff of the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF), alongside his wife (Ronke) also a staff of OAGF, exploited gaps in the IPPIS to enroll ghost workers into the Federal Government payroll, using agents who supplied accounts.

    “At the time Dayo was arrested by the EFCC, he was raking in a monthly heist of N6.1million through remittance by his agents.

    “He had an arrangement in which his agents, some of them civil servants, would collect the money (from ghost staff) and remit 40 per cent of the proceeds to him.

    “At the time of his arrest, there were eight such agents working for him.”

    The source gave further details on how the N1 billion fraud was perpetrated.

    It added: “Apart from the agents who are civil servants, some non-civil servants were also put on the payroll and collecting salaries from the Federal Government with fake appointment letters.

    “One of such was Hassan Momoh who was collecting four salaries with four different names. He does not work in any ministry but investigation revealed that he earned over N4 million in two years from the proceeds of the scam.”

    It was also learnt that an Accountant with the Federal Ministry of Environment, Bede Anyanwu, had been quizzed by EFCC as a suspected member of Dayo’s syndicate.

    Anyanwu was released on administrative bail by the EFCC pending the conclusion of the ongoing probe.

    The top source said: “From our findings, Anyanwu approached Dayo and enrolled about five people into the IPPIS platform. We are still in the process of identifying the five people.

    “For each of the five, Anyanwu remitted 40 per cent of the salary paid to Dayo through his wife, Ronke.

    “ Ronke was arrested and she made a statement that she received the remittance every month and that she uses the money (about N150,000 -N200,000) to take care of the family.”

    Responding to a question, the source said: “The accounts of all the identified suspects have been blocked.”

    It will be recalled that the Minister of Finance recently summoned the Managing Director of a first generation bank over the alleged complicity of the bank in the payment of salaries to 23,000 ghost workers on the payroll of the Federal Government.

    Also, the Minister also asked the Director General of Pension Commission, Ms Chinelo Anohu-Amazu to appear before a probe panel in her ministry on how Pension Funds Administrators (PFAs)  allegedly generated fake PFA numbers for the “ghost workers”.

    After the initial probe by the ministry, the Minister handed over the case to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC).

  • 300 ghost workers on Kogi payroll, alleges governor

    300 ghost workers on Kogi payroll, alleges governor

    Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello has decried civil servants, who constitute a cog in the wheel of the state’s progress.

    He alleged that a committee handling  screening at the state and local government levels discovered fraud by civil servants.

    Addressing a crowd in Okene, headquarters of Kogi Central, at the weekend during a reception for him, the governor decried the ghost workers’ syndrome, saying the committee uncovered how a person “injected as much as 300 ghost workers into the payroll of a local government”.

    He said his administration would not spare the perpetrators.

    Bello said: “It is surprising that a person without the fear of God placed 300 ghost workers on the payroll of a local government.”

    He said after the screening,  only bonafide workers will receive salary.

    The governor said workers’ welfare was his priority, adding that the government paid two-month salary arrears in less than two months in office.

    His words: “The temptation to use the money for other things was great. But we prioritised workers’ welfare. We paid two-month salary arrears in less than two months in office.

    “We paid the first batch of salary across board without asking questions, although we knew the nominal rolls were compromised. This was to help the bonafide workers, who needed money to meet their responsibilities.

    “The second batch we paid with the guarantee of the head of each Ministry Department and Agency (MDA) because we reasoned that change begins with each of us, and a leader should know those working under his supervision.”

    The Ohinoyi of Ebiraland, Dr. Ado Ibrahim, solicited cooperation and support for the governor to enable him deliver dividends of democracy.

    He stressed the need for peaceful co-existence, irrespective of tribe or religion.

  • Ghost workers receive N170.29m monthly in Benue — Report

    Ghost workers receive N170.29m monthly in Benue — Report

    The Benue State Government spends N170, 290, 870 as salaries on ghost workers every month.

    Biometric Audit Consultant, Prince Mkpang, stated this while submitting the Report of Biometric Audit of Benue Civil Service to Governor Samuel Ortom in Makurdi on Tuesday.

    Mkpang explained that after the Automatic Finger Print Identification, only 17,962 staff members were active employees in the state’s civil service.

    This is apart from the 1,011 judiciary staff members that are now independent.

    Mkpang said: “Staff headcount as at September 2015 is 20, 220 with a gross salary of N2.5 billion. Today, with the biometric audit staff headcount, the state has 17,962 with a wage bill of N2.3 billion.

    “This shows a headcount difference of 2,258 and a gross difference of N259 million per month. However, the judiciary staff, numbering 1,011 with a gross salary of N88.8 million did not avail themselves of the exercise.

    “This means that 1, 261 staff with a gross salary of N170, 290, 870 can be classified as ghost workers on the payroll until proven otherwise.”

    Mkpang said 359 employees due for retirement by virtue of either date of birth or maximum length of service between January and February 2016 were still in the service.

    The consultant said 171 staff due for retirement before September 2015 were still on the payroll, while 111 staff falsified their records on grounds of age disparity.

    Mkpang further said 90 staff with serious medical conditions that cannot work, were captured, adding that 1,500 staff members were yet to be confirmed after several years in the service.

    He disclosed that they had created an electronic file (e-file), which contained career profile and qualifications for each civil servant.

    Gov. Ortom said government would look into the report and make necessary corrections for immediate implementation.

    The Benue State House of Assembly  passed the second supplementary appropriation bill 2015 of over N24.5 billion. Highlight of the bill as passed shows that the recurrent expenditure is N12.5 billion while capital expenditure stood at N12 billion.

    Leading the debate in the Committee of Supply, Chairman of the Appropriation committee, Mr Adam Okloho (APC-Adoka/Ugboju), said that his committee unraveled that most of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the state indulge in extra budgetary expenditure, stressing that the state government had paid the backlog of salary arrears of N12.5 billion with the bailout fund without complaints.

    Contributing, Mr Ianna Jato (PDP-Katsina-Ala East) called on Benue workers to furnish the house with complaints concerning the disbursement of the bailout fund if any to enable the house tackle them on their behalf.

  • Fed Govt probes 11,000 ghost workers

    Fed Govt probes 11,000 ghost workers

    THE Federal Government is investigating additional 11,000 workers to know if they are ghost workers, Minister of Finance Kemi Adeosun said yesterday.

    About 23,000 such workers were uncovered recently, saving the government N2.29 billion monthly.

    Briefing State House correspondents, Mrs. Adeosun said the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved continuous audit process, particularly on the payroll.

    According to her, the audit would be extended to other areas of government’s expenditure to block fraud.

    She said: “The approval of a presidential initiative on continuous audit. In the budget speech, the President said we would introduce a continuous audit process, particularly of the payroll and that work has resulted in the elimination of about 23,000 fraudulent recipients of federal salary and more work is still on.

    “We felt that the continuous audit should not be limited to payroll, there is actually need to strengthen internal audit across government and to that extent, the World Bank in 2010 started an initiative to try and introduce real-space internal audit in Nigeria, but it wasn’t successful.”

    Stressing that the World Bank indicated its readiness to support Nigeria in the initiative, she added that it would take six months to get the required legislation through.

    As a way forward, she said: “So, in the interim, we have agreed to do the presidential initiative on continuous audit, which will give backing to the work we are doing and will allow us to extend this work beyond payroll to other areas of expenditure.”

    The minister explained that FEC deliberated about the need for this and agreed that the control framework over finance and spending of government’s money needed to be strengthened, “especially in anticipation of the approval of the budget, which is an extended budget”.

    She added: “There was a discussion on the role of existing internal audit offices, the problem they have is that they report to the people they are supposed to be checking on and so they are not able to be as effective as we would like.

    “Also, most of what we do now is computerised and we need special audit techniques, computer assistants to do the techniques and special techniques, which some of these auditors do not have,” Mrs. Adeosun said.

    She said the government would not recruit any additional people to do the auditing work.

    “We are going to use existing staff, qualified accountants within the Office of the Accountant General within the Federal Civil Service and redeploy them to create this function, which we believe will strengthen the control of our public money,” she added.

    On the earlier 23,000 ghost workers and the new investigation, she said: “Our payroll has reduced by N2.29 billion per month. The update on that is that we are now investigating another potential 11,000.

    “Again we are using computer techniques to identify those who we need to investigate. So, we are now looking at the second batch and as we resolve those cases, we would inform you of the amount saved and the number of people removed.”

  • Reps to Fed Govt: replace 23,000 ghost workers with jobless youth

    Reps to Fed Govt: replace 23,000 ghost workers with jobless youth

    •House to probe public officers receiving multiple salaries

    House of Representatives has urged the Federal Government to replace the discovered 23,000 ghost workers with unemployed youth.

    This followed the adoption of the prayers of a motion brought under matters of urgent public importance by Dickson Tarkighir (Benue -APC).

    Tarkighir, while moving the motion, explained that since the government system had demonstrated the financial capacity to withstand the pressure of catering for 23,000 plus none existing workers, it should be able to engage such number of unemployed youth.

    His words: “I am not in doubt of the many curriculum vitae my colleagues have continued to collect from schooled, but jobless constituents.

    “This House has the identity of one commitment, which is to ease the plight of Nigerians and of our youths especially.

    “We will, therefore, be living the essence of our stewardship, if we once again show them that we care about their welfare and progress.

    “There is no task more honouring than that. When ghost workers were discovered, we spoke out vehemently asking that Nigerian youth, eager and willing to work are made to replace ghost workers,” he said.

    According to him, 23,000 workers drawn from each state and Abuja will give each state about 621 employees.

    The lawmaker added: “This is about 14 persons per local government. From Kano State that has 44 local governments, it’s about 27 applicants off the unemployed cadre. From each of the 23 local governments of Benue State, it’s about 36 applicants off the street.

    “Do the Mathematic per state, Federal constituency and you will have a grasp of what effect the decision of this House on this day shall have on the nation.”

    Urging the House to come to the aid of unemployed Nigerians, Tarkighir reminded his colleagues of the target of President Muhammad Buhari’s administration as concerning the creation of jobs for about three million applicants.

    Also yesterday, the House agreed to investigate the number of people holding more than one public office and receiving benefits from such offices in the Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDA).

    The resolution of the House was sequel to the adoption of a motion by Abdulahi Faruk (Kebbi-APC).

    Faruk, in the motion, said huge amount of money was being spent to maintain public officials to the extent that about 70 per cent yearly budget was allocated for recurrent expenditure to the detriment of other developmental projects.

    He said: “There is a need to put an end to the illegal and unjust enrichment of such individuals with public funds to the detriment of millions of other Nigerians, especially at this period of fall in oil price.”

    The House Committee on Public Services Matters was mandated to conduct investigation to determine the number of Nigerians holding more than one public office and report its findings within four weeks.

  • Osun discovers 71 ghost workers

    Osun discovers 71 ghost workers

    Seventy-one ghost workers were discovered in Osun State during the last screening exercise carried out among ministries, agencies and departments of government and public secondary schools.

    The Permanent Secretary, Local Government Service Commission and the Chairman of Personnel and Job Audit Committee on MDAs and Secondary Schools, Mr. Dayo Olaluwoye, made the disclosure while submitting the final report of his committee to the state Head of Service, Mr. Sunday Owoeye.

    Olaluwoye explained that out of the Seventy-one ghost workers, thirty-nine were deceased while thirty two were supposed living individuals, disclosing that the ghost workers have been collecting salaries without coming to the office.

    He expressed gratitude to workers for their cooperation during the period of the exercise.

    In his remarks, the Head of Service, Mr. Yinka Owoeye, commended the committee for redeeming the image of the Civil Service by doing a thorough job while discharging the duty assigned to them.

    Owoeye, who observed that the MDAs and Secondary Schools Committee was just one of the four Committees set up for the screening exercise at the time, said that the use of Civil Servants for the screening exercise had saved the Government lots of money compared to the use of Consultants.

    He said screening of workers is an on-going process, adding that those that had issues with their certificates should endeavour to clear themselves.

    He charged all public officers in the State to be revenue collectors in their respective areas of operation in order to revive the economy of the state.

  • Osun discovers 71 ghost workers on payroll

    Osun discovers 71 ghost workers on payroll

    Seventy-one ghost workers were discovered in Osun State during the last screening exercise carried out among ministries, agencies and departments of government and public secondary schools.

    The Permanent Secretary, Local Government Service Commission and the Chairman of Personnel and Job Audit Committee on MDAs and Secondary Schools, Mr. Dayo Olaluwoye,  made the disclosure when submitting the final report of his Committee to the State Head of Service, Mr. Sunday Owoeye.

    Olaluwoye explained that out of the Seventy-one ghost workers, thirty-nine were deceased while thirty two were supposed living individuals, disclosing that the ghost workers have been collecting salaries without coming to the office.

    However, he expressed gratitude to workers for their cooperation during the period of the exercise.

    In his remarks, the Head of Service, Mr. Yinka Owoeye, commended the Committee for redeeming the image of the Civil Service by doing a thorough job while discharging the duty assigned to them.

    Owoeye, who observed that the MDAs and Secondary Schools Committee was just one of the four Committees set up for the screening exercise at the time, said that the use of Civil Servants for the screening exercise had saved the Government lots of money compared to the use of Consultants.

    The Head of Service emphasised that screening of workers is an on-going process, adding that those that had issues with their certificates should endeavour to clear themselves.

    He then charged all public officers in the State to be revenue collectors in their respective areas of operation in order to revive the economy of the state.

  • Senate backs sanctions against 23,000 ghost workers

    Senate backs sanctions against 23,000 ghost workers

    The Senate has lent its voice to the call for sanctions against over 23, 000 ghost workers said to have been discovered through the  Bank Verification Number (BVN).

    Also for prosecution are civil servants and bank officials found to have aided the scam, adding that those found culpable must face prosecution.

    The Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance, John Enoh, stated this yesterday during the budget defence session with the Ministry of Finance.

    Addressing the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, Enoh urged the ministry to ensure that funds fraudulently received through the scam are recovered.

    Mrs. Adeosun said perpetrators of the scam and their collaborators would be punished and that the dragnet would also cover bank officials that aided the theft.

    She added that the banks used in perpetrating the fraud would be made to refund the money.

    The minister said the ghost workers were discovered through the adoption of the Personnel Payroll Information System and Bank Verification Number platforms.

    Adeosun said:  “What the IPPIS-BVN registration has shown us has been a revelation, we have identified that there are people who appear on our payroll multiple times.

    “BVN links all accounts of that person, so we are seeing in our payroll, 20 names to one BVN number.

    “We have had a meeting on how we are going to clean them off, the process will be that we will suspend that person from the payroll pending the investigation.

    “We will try as much as possible to conclude that investigation within 30 days so that we do not suffer innocent people, but we need to clean our payroll.

    “We have about 23,000 that we need to investigate: those whom either the BVN is linked to multiple payment or the name on the BVN account is not consistent with the name on our payroll.

    “Not only will we remove those people from our payroll, but we will also be going after the banks involved to collect our money.

    “So some of the information that we are getting is how long has this person been on the pay roll, how much has he been getting. In some getting the accounts are held by the same bank and in some cases all were opened on the same day”.

    She hinted that the ministry would have registered the entire federal workforce on the BVN platform by the end of June.

    According to her, the removal of the ghost workers from the government’s pay roll would reduce personnel cost by over N100 billion.

    She added that the removal of fake workers will reduce the personnel burden on the Federal Government, hence the reduction of personnel cost in 2016 by about N100 billion.

  • Senate backs sanctions for 23, 000 ghost workers

    The Senate has lent its voice to the call for  sanctioning of over 23, 000 ghost workers said to have been discovered through the implementation of the Bank Verification Number (BVN).

    Also for prosecution are civil servants and bank officials found to have aided the scam over the years.

    The Chairman Senate Committee on Finance, Senator John Enoh, stated this on Thursday during the budget defence session with the Ministry of Finance.

    Addressing the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, Enoh charged the ministry to ensure that funds fraudulently received through the scam are recovered.

    Adeosun said perpetrators of the scam and their collaborators would not escape punishment and that the dragnet would also cover bank officials that aided the theft.

    She added that the banks used in perpetrating the fraud would also be made to refund the entire money lost to the scam, even as she said that investigation was still ongoing.

    The minister said the ghost workers were discovered through the adoption of the Personnel Payroll Information System and Bank Verification Number platforms.

    Adeosun said, “What the IPPIS-BVN registration has shown us has been a real revelation, we have identified that there are people who appear on our payroll multiple times.

    “BVN links all the accounts of that person, so we are seeing in our payroll, 20 names to one BVN number.

    “We have had a meeting on how we are going to clean them off, the process will be that we will suspend that person from the payroll pending the investigation.

    “We will try as much as possible to conclude that investigation within 30 days so that we do not suffer innocent people, but we really need to clean our payroll.

    “We have about 23,000 that we need to investigate: those whom either the BVN is linked to multiple payment or the name on the BVN account is not consistent with the name on our own payroll.

    “Not only will we remove those people from our payroll, but we will also be going after the banks involved to collect our money.”

     

  • ‘Latecomers’ll be seen as ghost workers

    Niger State government said yesterday that civil servants, who reported late for duty, would be seen as ghost workers.

    It added that they risked being dismissed.

    A statement by the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr. Jonathan Vatsa, said the era of lateness was gone.

    He said the government viewed lateness as sabotage, urging civil servants to change their attitude.

    “The era of coming to work any time you feel like is gone. Workers must wake up to their responsibility or face the sanction.”

    Vatsa lamented that the state had about 60,000 civil servants, including local government workers, but not all reported for duty, saying some stayed at home and at the end of the month would collect salaries.

    He warned them to desist from the act.

    “Government will soon sack them. The era of wastage and leakage is over. It is no longer business as usual. The era of taking government for granted is gone. People should be serious with their work.”

    The commissioner directed the head of service to make available an attendance register, to stop lateness and absenteeism.