By Daniel Agbo
Makurdi
Benue state Commissioner for Finance, Mr. David Olofu, has said the state government had for the past two years saved N6 billion having got rid 2,000 ghost workers out of government’s payroll.
Olofu, who disclosed this yesterday in an interview with newsmen in Makurdi, the state capital, said the feat was achieved following series of biometric exercises carried out to ascertain the legitimate work force of the state civil service.
“Through series of biometric verifications carried out, the state government has been able to get rid 2, 000 out of the payroll and save N3 billion annually.
“When the Ortom administration assumed office, the total wage bill was N8.2 billion, and the governor went ahead and implemented the minimum wage for teachers which made the salary wage bill to rise again,” he said.
According to him, part of the reason for the high salary wage bill was as a result of government’s policies in the past.
He said the state government had employed consultants to work to enhance the state allocations from the federation account “and in doing that, certain indices that determine how much you get from FAAC were tampered with.”
“This is why there are ghost schools and ghost workers in the state because they have created the ghost schools; they need to populate the schools with ghost workers.
“That is where the challenge is, it is a policy problem and it has to be addressed through policy.”
He said the 2017 budget had performed below expectations due to paucity of funds, but that the state government had started working on 2018 budget, adding “it is our candid belief that there would be a greater impact this time around.”
