Abia Government Discovers 2,300 Ghost Names on Payroll

Abia State Government said it has saved over N200 million on monthly wage bills following ongoing verification of civil servants and other public workers in the state.

State Accountant General, Njum Onyemenam, said huge savings were made using a unified payment system.

Onyemenam, who spoke yesterday after a meeting with the state Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, said the verification exercise was still ongoing and that the government hopes to make more savings.

“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.