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A whooping sum of N24 billion is said to have been scammed from the state government annually through ghost workers and other fraudulent practices, Governor Dickson Sieraki has disclosed.
The governor lamented that over N100 billion has so far been paid by his administration in the last four years on bonds and overpayments made to his predecessors.
Of this the sum, he bemoaned, a hefty sum of N1.3 billion is deducted as bonds, while more than one billion naira goes for what he described as overpayments, totaling about N2.5 billion monthly.
According to the governor, the fraudsters work hand-in-gloves with some dubious financial institutions in the state to pull off the shady deals.
The governor gave the insight during a live interview programme in Yenagoa, the state capital, decrying the fifth columnist whom he said has over the years served as a clog in the wheel of his government in arresting the corrupt practices in the workforce.
Stressing that he was poised to clean the Augean stable, governor Dickson said government has introduced a new way of payment of salaries and that directives have been issued to all heads of ministries, departments, agencies and school principals to prepare nominal rolls and payroll vouchers, threatening that they would be questioned if there was any suspicion on their documents.
Dickson stated that the current system of payment of salaries was no longer sustainable and blamed it on the dwindling revenue from the federal purse and meager internally generated revenue.
Shedding light on the workers’ salaries, he said he has discussed with the organized labour on the adoption of 70 per cent pro rata payment or 50 percent across board for all civil servants.
On the strike action embarked upon by the state-owned Niger Delta University (NDU), the governor noted that the varsity was weighed down by the problem of over-bloated workforce, underlining that the government has been doling out about N500 million monthly as grant since 2012.
He wondered why the institution expends the grant on payment of salaries and urged the authorities to devise means to get more funds to run the institution.