Gaidam warns LG officials against ghost workers, sleaze
Governor Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe State has warned chairmen of local government councils in the state and their newly appointed treasurers and directors of personnel management that he will take decisive action against anyone found to be diverting local government funds through the insertion of ghost names in the payroll.
The governor said ghost-worker syndrome had continued to pose a serious challenge to the capacity of the councils to execute capital projects to the benefit of people at the grassroots and even pay the council workers’ salaries.
The governor spoke yesterday during a meeting with chairmen of the state’s 17 local government areas and their treasurers and directors of personnel management at the Government House, Damaturu, saying, “There are still some local governments that did not have money for capital projects after the payment of salaries. Worst still, some did not even have enough to pay their workers’ salaries. The situation is aggravated by the prevalence of ghost workers. In spite of the measures taken by government to check the situation, the problem persists due to the connivance of some local government officials.”
The governor urged the council chairmen to take critical and continuing look at their salary bills and conduct a biometric exercise to remove any ghost names in their payrolls.
The governor also directed the Ministry of Local Government Affairs and the Local Government Service Commission to urgently organise a workshop for the newly appointed treasurers and directors of personnel on public finance management to update their knowledge.