An Enugu State Government set up local government audit panel has uncovered nearly 4,000 ghost workers in the 17 local government councils.
The Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Edward Ubosi who chaired the audit panel presented the report to Governor which stated that 3,916 workers whose names were in the payment vouchers could not be traced, adding that this would save the state about N161, 494, 570 monthly or N1.938 billion annually.
“From the above, N64, 882, 033 and N96, 612, 337.20 from local government staff gross salaries and teachers’ salaries respectively should be regarded as monthly savings,” the speaker said.
The governor commended the panel for a job well done, saying that the report would go a long way in helping the state government in the on-going efforts to track down ghost workers in the state public service.
The committee made a total of 26 recommendations for consideration by the government among which is the removal of all staff in the system found out to have given false ages; impersonators, those incapacitated by ill-health as well as those employed contrary to civil service rules.
The panel also recommended that more teachers be engaged in the primary schools in the state.
