In Kano State, it was discovered that 240 employees were getting duplicate payments, and 217 more people are associated with the same Bank Verification Number (BVN).
Dr. Sulaiman Wali Sani, the chairman of the State Coordinating Committee and Special Advisor to Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf on Civil Service Matters, issued a statement on Sunday confirming this on behalf of the state government.
During a press briefing in Kano, Sani, speaking on behalf of the Secretary to the State Government, disclosed that this discovery resulted from a biometric verification procedure carried out by two standing committees.
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According to reports, one committee concentrates on the state payroll, while the other one deals with the payroll of the local government.
He underlined that the government’s continuous efforts to restructure the civil service and fulfill the present administration’s campaign pledges include this concerning discovery.
The government has been troubled by inherited flaws in the payroll system.
“We found that 217 people are using the same BVN while 240 employees are receiving double salaries, which may indicate instances of identity manipulation or ghost workers,” Sani stated.
More than six months after the notification, he said, 1,335 employees did not show up for the verification process. According to Sani, their absence is making people wonder if many of the identities on the government payroll are real.
Alhaji Umar Idi, the Chairman of the Local Government Standing Committee, revealed in his remarks that a recent audit had found 247 suspicious names on the payrolls of primary healthcare and local government, including retirees, deceased people, and cases of unapproved staff extensions.
Only eight of these 247 employees showed up to the committee to verify their job status.
He said, “The government will save a total of N27,824,395 per month as the remaining 239 names have been flagged for deletion.”
