19th April, 2012
At least 1,115 ghost workers are on the payroll of Sokoto North Local Government Council in Sokoto State, Northwest Nigeria.
Alhaji Abdullahi Hassan, the Chairman of the council disclosed this today.
Hassan told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Sokoto that the ghost staff were discovered during a verification exercise conducted recently.
“We inherited 3,326 staff in August 2011, when I came on board as the chairman, but after the verification exercise, the staff strength dropped to 2,211.
“The monthly wage bill also came down to about N32 million from N42 million,” he explained .
According to the chairman, the local government was now saving about N10 million monthly, which was hitherto being paid to ghost workers.
Hassan said that out of the 2,211 verified staff only about 700 were receiving salaries, while the rest were placed on allowances.