A total of 240 workers in Kano State were found to be receiving duplicate payments, while an additional 217 individuals are linked to the same Bank Verification Number (BVN).
The state government confirmed this on Sunday via a statement released by the Special Adviser to Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf on Civil Service Matters and Chairman of the State Coordinating Committee, Dr. Sulaiman Wali Sani.
Sani, representing the Secretary to the State Government, revealed during a press briefing in Kano that this finding emerged from a biometric verification exercise conducted by two standing committees.
Naijaonpoint reports that one committee focuses on the state payroll, while the other addresses the local government payroll.
He emphasized that this alarming revelation is part of the government’s ongoing initiative to reform the civil service and to honor the campaign commitments of the current administration.
“Inherited shortcomings in the payroll system have continued to disturb the government.
“We discovered that 240 employees are drawing double salaries while 217 individuals are operating under the same BVN, suggesting possible cases of ghost workers or identity manipulation,” Sani said.
He mentioned that a total of 1,335 employees did not attend the verification process after more than six months since the announcement. Sani expressed that their absence is heightening concerns regarding the legitimacy of numerous names listed on the government payroll.
In his comments, the Chairman of the Local Government Standing Committee, Alhaji Umar Idi, disclosed that a recent audit identified 247 dubious names on the payrolls of local government and primary healthcare, which included retirees, deceased individuals, and instances of unauthorized staff extensions.
“Out of these 247 workers, only eight appeared before the committee to confirm their employment status.
“The remaining 239 names have been flagged for deletion, saving the government a total of N27,824,395 monthly,” he explained.