The Osun State Government has dismissed allegations of a cover-up of ghost workers in the state public service levelled by Sally Tibbot Consulting (Nig.) Ltd.
The state government also described the company’s recent press briefing as an attempt to blackmail the government into accepting a disputed audit report.
According to Dailypost report, a forensic audit firm, SALLY TIBBOT Consulting Limited, had alleged that the Osun State Government inserted 8,452 ghost workers into its payroll, resulting in an annual financial loss of N13,716,914,129.28.
The allegation was disclosed on Friday by the firm’s Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Sa’adat Bakrin-Ottun, who spoke through its legal counsel, Jiti Ogunye, at a press conference held at the Nigeria Union of Journalists Secretariat in Lagos.
Bakrin-Ottun said the figures emerged from a comprehensive forensic audit and payroll validation exercise conducted for the Osun State Government, which she said uncovered widespread payroll fraud within the state’s civil and public service.
However reacting in a statement issued in Osogbo on Saturday, by Kolapo Alimi, the state’s Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment the government said the unusually high number of alleged ghost workers presented by the consultant necessitated a re-verification exercise, which revealed significant inflation in the figures originally submitted.
According to the government, “the re-verification showed that many individuals classified as ghost workers by the consultant were, in fact, legitimate employees who later appeared and were confirmed on the state payroll.
“The re-verification exercise shockingly revealed extensive inflation of the supposed number of ghost workers those earlier declared non-existent were verified as genuine staff of the state government.”
The government stated that it was “prepared to provide documentary proof of the existence of the affected workers if required but the consulting firm neither requested such proof nor submitted an acceptance letter for payment based on the 1,316 workers eventually identified as unseen.”
It noted that the controversy became more suspicious because the consultant’s fees were tied to the amount of money saved for the state, a situation the government said encouraged inflated claims.
“The company’s high-handedness, open exclusion of staff during the audit process and deliberate maltreatment of workers characterised the entire exercise,” the statement added.
While reaffirming its commitment to cleaning up the payroll, the government said it could not in good conscience remove legitimate workers or implement an audit report that could further defraud the state.
The government explained that “gaps, verifiable lapses and repeated disputes during the audit process compelled it to set up a verification committee before implementing the consultant’s report.”
Sally Tibbot Consulting (Nig.) Ltd had earlier declared 8,448 workers as unseen and 6,713 retirees as ghost retirees, conclusions the government said were reached without inviting the affected individuals to explain their absence.
Following an in-depth review, the government said it “confirmed 8,015 of the 8,448 workers as active employees, while only 433 were found to be unreachable.
“Similarly, out of 6,713 retirees declared unseen, 5,830 were confirmed to exist, with 883 remaining unreachable after verification.”
The government said this reduced the actual number of unseen workers and retirees to about 1,316, far below the 15,161 earlier claimed by the consultant, significantly affecting the percentage-based consultancy fee.
Also, in a response to a demand letter dated June 25, 2025, written by counsel to the firm, Jiti Ogunye, the government’s counsel, Mrs Ire Egert-Olusesi, said payment must be based strictly on actual savings realised from the exercise.
The government added that it “proposed payment based on the verified figure of about 1,316 workers while further verification continued, a position it said was rejected by the consultant in a subsequent letter dated July 23, 2025.”
Reaffirming its stance, the government said the agreement between both parties clearly provided that payment should be tied to actual savings, a position it reiterated in a letter dated August 5, 2025.
Commissioner Alimi, said the government stood by the recommendations of its re-verification committee, including the stoppage of salaries and pensions of unseen personnel from July 2025 and payment of ₦48.74 million to the consultant in line with the memorandum of understanding.