Bayelsa Uncovers 612 Ghost Workers, Dead Persons in Payrolls

Olusegun Samuel

The 33-member Committee on the Review of Grade Levels and Steps of Local Government and Primary School Staff set up by the Bayelsa State Government in April this year has submitted its report with the discovery of anomalies in the state payrolls.

The Chairman of the committee, Mr. Timipre Seipulou, said the committee reviewed a total of 14,258 cases in the various local government areas of the state.

Presenting the report in Government House, Yenagoa, he said the number comprised 7,207 primary school teachers, 5,893 council staff members and 1,189 health workers.

Seipulou, who noted that the committee conducted a staff verification using the March 2021 payroll as a template and discovered some anomalies, saying it observed that out of the 7,207 primary school staff members, 612 were confirmed by headmasters as ghost workers in their various schools.

The report added that 573 staff members were not in the payrolls but were said to be physically present in the schools, while names of 10 dead and 13 retired staff members were found in the payrolls.

Seipulou, who is also the Technical Adviser to the Governor on Revenues and Accounts, said the committee equally observed irregular progressions across board, improper updating of files and indiscriminate award of special promotions among other irregularities.

The committee’s recommendations included the setting up of a special team to review cases of staff members who appear in the payrolls but are not the schools as well as the removal of dead and retired staff from the wage bill.

It also advised the government to use the April 2021 payrolls, grade levels and steps report as a basis to conduct physical verification of all staff with an Oracle Team on ground to capture the biometrics of the workers during the verification exercise.

Receiving the report, the Deputy Governor, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, commended the committee for doing a thorough work that would help in repositioning the councils for better service delivery.

He promised to convey the report to the state Governor, Douye Diri, and work closely with all relevant authorities in carrying out what he described as segmented implementation of the committee’s recommendations.