Benue State Government said it has saved N1.2 billion on its monthly wage bill as a result of staff verification exercise conducted on civil servants in the state.
The state governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, disclosed this on Friday, during an Extraordinary Stakeholders Meeting of the All Progressives Congress, (APC) in the state.
The governor said after successfully conducting the first phase of the exercise, over 2500 ghost workers and ghost schools among other fraudulent acts were identified and eliminated from the state’s payroll.
“After the first phase of the forensic, for those in the classrooms and the local government, we discovered over 2500 ghost workers and schools and removed them. By this, Government saved the sum of N1.2 billion.”
He said from what used to go to ghost schools and ghost workers which stood at N1.6 billion, Government has brought it down to N800 million.
He further announced that the teachers whose two months salaries were being delayed as a results of the audit have started receiving alerts of their two months salaries.
Alia who stated that there were a lot of looting in government before now said the committee will continue it’s duties until all those who are milking the state are identified and made to return what they took from government.