Bauchi State has partnered with the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) to overhaul its payroll system, eliminate ghost workers, and boost transparency in public service.
The partnership was formalized on Tuesday in Bauchi with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) during the inauguration of the Cybernation Programme and the Digital Literacy and Skills Framework.
According to the state government, the initiative is expected to strengthen data protection, improve governance, and restore public trust.
Speaking at the event, Governor Bala Mohammed said the move would overhaul the workers’ database, curb the inflation of staff records, protect digital rights, and restore quality service delivery.
Mohammed described the partnership as a decisive step towards transparency and efficiency in public service, which would also guard against data manipulation.
The governor expressed optimism that the collaboration would not only end the ghost worker scourge but also set a benchmark for accountable governance in the country’s digital transformation.
Also, the NDPC National Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer, Dr Vincent Olatunji, said the initiative would align the state’s data systems with the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA) 2023.
Olatunji, represented by the commission’s Head of Legal, Enforcement and Regulations, Mr Babatunde Bamibogboye, explained that the partnership aimed to embed strong privacy policies and ensure compliance across ministries and agencies.
He said the partnership would boost the capacity of public officials to manage data responsibly and stressed the importance of public awareness.
Olatunji noted that citizens must be informed of their rights to build confidence in digital governance.
According to him, the fourth industrial revolution offers vast opportunities for socio-economic growth, but its foundation is trust, which can only be achieved through the responsible use of data.
“Our success in this digital era hinges on cooperation between national and state governments to protect every Nigerian’s data. This is how we safeguard our socio-economic heritage,” he said.
In 2016, the state uncovered 6,065 fraudulent entries on its payroll during a verification exercise under Governor Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar. By 2017, reports showed the government was losing about N1 billion every month to ghost worker fraud.
To address the problem, Bauchi introduced a digital e-payment system in June 2018, aimed at identifying and eliminating non-existent workers from its payroll.
In 2020, a Bank Verification Number (BVN) audit revealed 596 deceased officers who were still receiving salaries. That same year, major clean-up operations intensified under Governor Bala Mohammed.
In October 2020, 2,116 ghost workers, including 100 doctors and 120 primary healthcare staff, were removed, freeing up resources for the health sector.
In October 2020, 2,116 ghost workers, including 100 doctors and 120 primary healthcare staff, were removed, freeing up resources for the health sector.
The previous month, a separate audit in the Ministry of Health detected 1,279 ghost workers, including 100 purported doctors.
The clean-up continued into 2021, with 1,115 ghost workers removed in July, saving the state about N763.8 million. Additional payroll reforms eliminated further irregular entries, saving over N500 million.
By June 2022, cumulative efforts had resulted in the removal of 6,418 ghost workers, translating to about N1 billion in monthly savings.
These sustained actions underline the scale of the payroll fraud challenge and the government’s commitment to tackling it through technology, audits, and policy reforms.