Professor Johnbull Redefines "Ghost Worker" Concept

Professor Johnbull, the TV drama series powered by Globacom, in a new episode gives a new perspective to the phenomenon of "ghost workers" to include those who idle away at their jobs but still get paid.

In the episode entitled Ghost Worker, Professor Johnbull, played by Nollywood veteran, Kanayo O. Kanayo (KOK), laments that in government ministries and agencies, millions of Naira that could have been spent on other sectors of the nation's economy were paid out to ghost workers, idle workers and those who refuse to do the jobs they are engaged to do.

His definition of the “ghost worker” phenomenon also covers those fake job agencies which advertise fake and non-existent job vacancies with the intention of duping genuine job seekers and applicants.

The episode airs on Tuesday on NTA Network, NTA International on DSTV Channel 251 and NTA on StarTimes at 8.30 p.m. with a repeat broadcast on Friday on the same channels and time. In the episode, Samson (Ogus Baba) who prides himself on having unrivalled ‘street sense’ and Elizabeth (Queen Nwokoye), the equally brilliant daughter of the academic, are scammed by a fake job agent who advertised fictional vacancies for an international job and a high-paying domestic servant job.

While Elizabeth applies for the fake international job without the knowledge of her father, Samson, on his part, resigns from his store-keeping job and goes for the N80,000-a-month domestic servant job only for the duo to discover that they have been scammed by fraudsters.

Though Flash (Stephen Odimgbe) secures a holiday job through the help of Professor Johnbull, he does not last more than two days on the job as he plays the ghost worker card by chatting and sleeping on duty to the disgust of his boss who fires him after a second warning. This is just as Ufoma (Bimbo Akintola) who assists Mai Doya (Funky Mallam) in hawking tubers of yam, is also caught by her master playing the ‘ghost worker card’ by sleeping on the wheelbarrow of the tubers of yam. A simple reprimand from Mai Doya is what she needs to abandon the hawking business and she goes for the fake househelp job which promises her N100,000 a month.

Another interesting scene in Ghost Worker is the poetic lyrics of Abadnego (Martins Nebo), who, while consoling Elizabeth on the loss of her N10,000 which she paid as deposit to the fraudster, goes Shakespearean in an apparent confession of love and affection for Elizabeth.