The Akwa Ibom State branch of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has revealed that over 2,000 ghost workers have been discovered among the over 55,000 employees in the Akwa Ibom State civil service system.
LEADERSHIP recalls that Governor Umo Eno, who received an intelligence report to that effect, had to delay the implementation of the new N80,000 wage regime for the probe to conclude the actual number of authentic civil servants in the state’s employ.
He, therefore, urged the agitated workers to calm their frayed nerves as the new salary scheme, fixed for implementation in November 2024, would be paid with the arrears by the first quarter of 2025.
However, the state NLC has explained that the decision paid off, with the discovery of over 2,000 unknown personnel amongst the workforce who had been drawing salaries without working over the years.
Therefore, the congress applauded Governor Eno for what it described as “The physical verification exercise of civil servants leading to the discovery of over 2,000 ghost workers so far in the process.”
The secretary of the NLC in the state, Comrade Alpha Marshall, disclosed this in an interview in Uyo, the state capital. Marshall stressed the need for continuous sanitation of the government system to mitigate fraud.
According to Comrade Marshall, a little over 51,700 civil servants have so far been verified against the 55,120 workers that were available on record before the verification exercise.
Speaking further, the NLC secretary reiterated that the verification process was seamless and transparent and said the exercise report was ready for submission to the governor.
For civil servants that have yet to be verified, the NLC secretary disclosed that plans are underway to reschedule a verification exercise for workers whose issues are related to mismatched details on their National Identification Number (NIN). The secretary maintained, “The rescheduled exercise will not stop the committee from submitting the report to the governor.”
While describing Eno as a promise keeper, Comrade Marshall expressed optimism that “once the governor reviews the report, civil servants will be paid the new minimum wage.”
