By Mohammed Aminu
Sokoto State Government said on Tuesday it had uncovered some ghost workers that were padded into the payrolls of the 23 local government areas in the state.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry for Local Government and Community Development, Alhaji Aliyu Balarabe, made the disclosure to journalists in Sokoto.
He explained that the ghost workers were discovered after two separate verification exercises of the staff of the local government councils carried out by the state government in the last one month.
He disclosed that some workers were even receiving double salaries in most of the local government areas.
” We cannot however disclose how much money was recovered as at now as the exercise is still going on.
“It is also heartwarming that the exercise has recorded huge successes, and so far, so good, ” Balarabe explained.
Balarabe emphasised that the exercise was not aimed at witch hunting any official of the local government councils , adding that it was meant to create a database of the staf of the local government areas.
He pointed out that the exercise was aimed at ascertaining the actual monthly wage bill of the
local councils.
Balarabe also stated that the state government was fully committed to ensuring that the local government areas in the state adopt global best practices in their operations.
” The Councils must conform with the extant transparency and accountability laws, while they provide the needed social services to the people according to the available resources.
” Wherever we find any established case of misconduct by any staff, the state government will not hesitate to wield the big stick,” Balarabe stressed.
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