Benue State Government has uncovered a total of 443 ghost workers, including 18 dead persons on the payroll of the Benue State Teaching Service Board (TSB).
The Executive Secretary of the Board, Dr. Frank Kyungun made this known on Wednesday while presenting the report of the screening exercise recently conducted by the TSB, to Governor Samuel Ortom in Makurdi.
Kyungun said names of 18 dead staff, 70 retired staff, and 193 redeployed staff, were also discovered on the payroll.
According to him, the ghost workers were uncovered after verification of 4,473 staff across the three senatorial zones of the state.
“The screening uncovered 433 ghost workers on the payroll after verification of 4,473 staff across the three senatorial zones of the state,” Kyungun said.
“The screening committee also uncovered 18 dead persons, 70 retired staff, 193 redeployed staff, among other irregularities on the payroll, who were accordingly expunged.”
Reacting to a the report, Governor Ortom said those who had milked the board through ghost workers must be identified and prosecuted,
He also directed that “the ghost names be immediately deleted from the payment voucher”.
The governor constituted a committee to immediately implement the screening report, and charged the TSB boss to ensure that the deleted names did not find their way back on the payroll.
KanyiDaily had also reported how Ekiti State University (EKSU) sacked over 900 ghost workers, and saved over N200 million by the time the staffs were expunged on the payroll.