1st March, 2012
The Lagos State Government says it has uncovered N82 million fraud from ghost workers in Local Governments, Local Council Development Areas and Local Government Education Authorities and arrested 100 of them.
The Office of the Auditor-General for Local Governments in Lagos State said the government was able to stop the payment of over N82 million to ghost workers, and deceased pensioners for the years 2010 and 2011 in the affected councils whose names were not listed.
According to a statement from the office, the Permanent Secretary/Auditor-General for Local Governments, Mr Mohammed Hassan who disclosed this during a management meeting, stated that it was a major breakthrough for the administration of Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola in its bid to tackle the menace of ghost workers in the state.
He explained that during the exercise, over 100 ghost workers, impersonators of deceased pensioners were caught, and over N82 million was recovered.
“We have also successfully completed the statutory reports on the accounts and projects executed in the 20 Local Governments and 37 Local Council Development Areas for the year 2010 and it has been considered by the Public Accounts Committee (Local Governments) of Lagos State House of Assembly.”
He added that the exercises were used to appraise the performances of all the 57 Local Governments and Local Council Development Areas, and ensure that funds released were spent judiciously, to ensure accountability and transparency at the grassroots level.
Meanwhile, the Office of the Auditor-General for Local Governments in Lagos State is to embark on Projects Inspection Exercise in all the 20 Local Governments (LGs) and 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in the state.
The exercise, schedule to take place between 6 and 30 March, 2012, will enable the office find out how judiciously the local governments were using the funds allocated to them.
According to a statement by the Permanent Secretary/Auditor-General for Local Government, Mr Mubashiru Hassan, this year’s exercise, which was the fourth edition, would pay specific attention to projects undertaken and completed between July 2010 and December 2011.
Hassan explained that the exercise would be supervised by the audit teams and supported by qualified engineers drawn from the state Ministry of Housing, Lagos State Urban and Regional Development Authority, Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Development and State Materials Testing Laboratory.
While calling for support from the public and all local governments in the state for the exercise to be successful, the Auditor-General said the reports of the exercise would be published and widely circulated.
—Kazeem Ugbodaga