Politics
EDO State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has ordered a general verification and audit of staff of all the 18 local government areas in the state.
The purpose of the order is to check for ghost workers and fraud in the pay roll system.
Obaseki gave the order after it was discovered that some persons have been collecting salaries from Estako West local government area when they are not employees of the local council.
Investigation is currently on to uncover how their names were imputed into the payroll and collect salaries to the tune of N46m.
During a staff verification exercise, 63 staff did not turn up and the council saved N6, 035,656.29 monthly.
This was contained in a statement signed by the recently redeployed Commissioner for Local Government and Community Affairs, Hon. (Barr.) Jimoh Ijegbai.
Barr. Ijegbai said Chairman of Etsako West Local Government, Mr. Yakubu Musa, was asked to step aside to allow for a thorough investigation into the N46 million payroll fraud uncovered in the council.
He explained that the fraud was uncovered after Governor Obaseki frowned at the high wage bill of the local council which amounted to N66, 652,527.52 monthly, whereas Oredo Local Government with more staff strength was paying N59, 859,964.29 to its staff.
According to the statement, “It was later discovered that the Authority of Etsako West Local Government entrusted the council’s payroll to a Grade Level Three (GL-03) Officer who inserted two fictitious names on the payroll through whom the Local Government was defrauded of the sum of Forty-Six Million (46 Million), from July 2018 to May 2019. The case is currently being investigated by security agencies.
“If the Council Chairman was diligent enough, he should have been the one to raise the alarm that his council’s wage bill was increasing astronomically even though no new staff was employed.
“Unfortunately, it had to take a staff audit ordered by His Excellency, Governor Godwin Obaseki, to uncover the massive fraud that had been festering in the Local Government Area.” – The Nation
– Aug. 6, 2019 @ 16:57 GMT |
Tags: Obaseki orders verification of local government staff
