Abia Government Removes 2,300 Ghost Workers From Payroll

The Abia State Government has announced that it has saved over N200 million on the monthly wage bill after removing a total of 2,300 workers from the state’s payroll.

According to a Monday statement by Kazie Uko, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Alex Otti, the state Accountant General, Njum Onyemenam, made it known that the saving was made using a unified payment system.

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

“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,” the Accountant General said.

She confirmed that following Governor Otti’s directive, the government had last week paid the arrears of April salaries, left behind by the immediate past administration 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, Onyemenam said.