Gov. Ahmed moves against ghost workers

Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara state has called for the verification of all staff in its payroll in order to detect ghost workers.

The verification will help increase its revenue to enable it clear salary debts and meet other financial obligations. Those to be audited will include the state civil servants, basic level teachers, local government workers and pensioners.

The governor disclosed this yesterday at a stakeholders' meeting with leaders and supporters of the All Progressives Congress held in Ilorin, the state capital.

The governor, who blamed some workers for allegedly receiving multiple salaries for the current inability of Local Government Councils and State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) to pay workers' salaries regularly, said the government was already collaborating with banks to use the Biometric Verification Number (BVN) to detect those collecting multiple salaries.

The governor announced that the new Internally Generated Revenue drive was yielding positive results, assuring workers that all outstanding salaries would be cleared before the end of next month.

On the proposed N20 billion bonds, Governor Ahmed said the process had reached advanced stage with the Security and Exchange Commission, Debt Management Office and the Federal Ministry of Finance in order to access the bond for capital projects.

Governor Ahmed also promised that his government would continue to meet its obligations despite the prevailing economic situation in the country.