The Nigerian government has rid its civil service of 50,000 ghost workers and saved over 600 million dollars in the fight against corruption, the presidency said on Tuesday.
“The Federal government payroll has been rid of 50,000 ghost workers, saving the country a huge amount of N200 billion ($636 million USD),” spokesperson of the presidency, Garba Shehu, said in a statement.
The Federal government payroll has been rid of 50,000 ghost workers, saving the country a huge amount of N200 billion. https://t.co/tZ9DdZjvUC— Garba Shehu ???????? (@GarShehu) December 27, 2016
“Over N13 billion has been taken off the payroll monthly from February to December this year … The pension bill was N15.5bn monthly as at February. Now it is down to N14.4bn, which means average monthly saving is made of about N1.1bn,” he explained.
Shehu said 11 main suspects have been referred to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and some are under trial.
So far, 11 persons championing the syndicate of the ghost workers have been referred to EFCC with some of them already undergoing trial.— Garba Shehu ???????? (@GarShehu) December 27, 2016
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari vowed to fight corruption after his election in 2015. Already, about a dozen high ranking officials linked to former President Goodluck Jonathan’s regime are under investigation for corruption.
Join GhanaStar.com to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.