Bauchi Detects 41,000 Ghost Workers on Payroll

Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, has alleged that 41,000 out of the 101,000 civil servants in the state are ghost workers and without Bank Verifiable Numbers (BVN).

He made the startling revelation last Friday night at a reception for the visiting members of the FCT Minister’s press corps, who were in Bauchi for their sixth annual retreat.

The state government, according to him, only found out last week about the non-existent civil servants, who were placed on salary by the immediate past administration.

He said the ghost workers didn’t have BVN, which is a clear violation of the federal government’s regulation which makes it mandatory for every worker on the payroll to have BVN.

The governor also questioned the rationale behind paying the ghost workers, wondering why salaries were going up even the state had not employed workers, including graduates, medical doctors and engineers in the last four years.

 “We carried out a check last week and discovered that 41,000 out 101,000 civil servants in the state are non-existent. They don’t have BVN and have been collecting salary since the last administration.

“Unless there is increase in employment or promotion, there should not be an increase in salary. The workers' salaries have been increasing since the last administration, and now we have found the cause. This BVN is the first step," he said.

Mohammed also warned the affected workers against arranging with banks to issue them BVN, insisting that any bank number presented by the ghost workers will not be considered a legal tender now.

The governor fingered the Education Secretaries and Health Directors oflocal government areas of colluding with the ‘faceless’ workers in perfecting the scheme, wondering why they have allowed ghost workers to be paid under their guise.

He threatened that if the senior administrators were found to have compromised, the civil service rules and regulations will apply to them, adding that in the past four months, the state has been clearing the pensions arrears of N28 billion by paying about N200 million monthly.