The syndicate that thrives on inflating the number of workers should be exposed
Despite the deployment of electronic verification system, the ubiquitous Nigerian ‘ghost workers’ have continued to divert billions of government money into their private pockets. The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) nationwide investigation has revealed widespread payroll fraud across federal ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs). The ICPC Chairman, Musa Adamu Aliyu, SAN, who made the disclosure, alleged that some senior public officials exploited the system by enrolling relatives and associates as government workers to receive salaries illegally. One suspect allegedly placed the names of his wife, son and mother-in-law on the government payroll while also collecting salaries for 12 other fictitious workers.
For decades Nigerians have been regaled with tales about how government, at the federal and states, have been able to ‘eliminate’ certain numbers of ‘ghost workers’ from the public payroll. What ordinarily ought to be an aberration in any proper self-accounting and self-auditing bureaucratic system is now a national scourge that appears insurmountable. But it is unacceptable that Nigerians should be periodically regaled with tales of discovery of ‘ghost workers’ while no visible attempts are made to get to the bottom of such fraud and bring the wrath of the law to bear on its perpetrators.
