Sokoto Recovers N300m from Council Payrolls in One Month

Mohammed Aminu in Sokoto

Sokoto State Government monday said it had recovered over N300 million from the payroll of the 23 local government areas of the state in one month, following the ongoing verification exercise.

Speaking in Sokoto yesterday, Tambuwal said the state government discovered that in only one local government area in the state, an official sold 200 appointment letters to a contractor in Zamfara State.

He said the fraud was found when the said contractor sent a text to the Secretary to the Sokoto State Government, complaining that his money had not been sent by the affected official.

The governor lamented that all the local government areas had their payrolls padded with ghost workers.
“It is sad that most of the workers in the local councils are idle and fraudulent. In fact, we found out that one staff was collecting salaries in four various local government areas,” he said.

Tambuwal said a similar verification exercise was going on in the state civil service, to curb the menace of ghost workers.
The governor stated that the verification exercise in the councils was conducted in conjunction with the state chapter of the Nigeria Union of Local Governments Employees (NULGE)

“The exercise which is ongoing is not a witch- hunt, and it will be completed by the end of this month. That was why the elected chairmen and councillors have not been sworn- in but now I may swear them in next week.

“We have no option than to sanitise the payroll of the local government councils and curb the monumental fraud going on in them,” he averred.