Abia Govt Identifies 2,300 Ghost Workers, Saves N220 Million Wage Bills

Abia State Government says it has identified two thousand three hundred ghost workers from the unified payment system in the ongoing reform in the State.

“Not less than 2,300 ghost names have been weeded out of the payrolls, using the unified payment system and we hope to still identify more as we continue with the exercise.”

This was made known by the State Accountant General, Deaconess Njum Onyemenam on Monday after a meeting with Governor Alex Otti stating that huge savings of N220 million on monthly wage bills following ongoing verification of civil servants and other public workers in the state.

“So far, we have been able to save N220 million from the ongoing verification of workers in the state, local governments, and pensioners.”

In the statement shared by Kazie Uko, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor on Monday said the verification exercise was still ongoing and that the government hopes to make more savings. 

Speaking on salaries, she confirmed that the Governor Otti-led administration had last week paid the arrears of April salaries, and also June pensions to retirees.

“Also, local government staff, who had been skipped when the June salaries were paid, due to their failure to submit their verified payment schedule, will receive their salaries this week.”