Unless the Federal Government adopts a structured and serious
institutional response to the ever recurring tales of ghost workers in
most government establishments, the syndicate that thrives on inflating
the actual number of workers and fleecing the nation will keep smiling
to the banks. Not long ago the Federal Civil Service Commission declared
that over 30 percent of the workers on its payroll are phantom staff.
More recently, a workers' verification exercise carried out at the Power
Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) threw up 17,000 fake workers on its
payroll. These ghost workers had been receiving regular salaries and
allowances for a long time now; and the sum runs into billions of Naira.
The agency also found another 6,000 casual workers presumably its
employees who do not exist, except for those who collaborate to use
their names to draw funds from the national till. The issue here is not
discovering ghost workers as the regular announcements have become
rather boring. What Nigerians would like to know are the steps being
taken to deal with confirmed cases and prevent new ones.
We ought to know, for instance, how and when these names got on the
payroll and for how long they have been there. The security agencies
should tell us the accounts the monies so fraudulently drawn have been
paid over the years; and the total sum the nation has lost so far.
Beyond this, there is the matter of the criminal collusion of principal
officers of state who carry out their policing and monitoring roles in
the breach. It is unacceptable that Nigerians should be periodically
regaled with tales of discovery of ghost workers, while no visible
attempts are made to get to the bottom of such fraud and bring the wrath
of the law to bear on its perpetrators.
In the more recent case of PHCN, the fraud was uncovered through the
use of biometric data capture machine. Because ghosts have no finger
prints, cannot sign documents, or appear before a panel, the bubble
burst for those behind the inflated staff figures. Forthwith, the fake
workers who have regularly survived the 'pay at sight' charade of the
agency stood out like sour thumbs. The level of collusion here is really
the issue and queries should be raised about auditing irregularities.
The story is worse in federal government ministries, where you find
several fictitious names on the payroll. For instance, an exercise
carried out in 2004 in the then Federal Ministry of Information and
National Orientation revealed over 40% percent under-qualified staff and
20 percent ghost workers aside confirming that a syndicate posts people
to ministries with exactly the same letter as is sent from the Civil
Service Commission!
Unfortunately, while Labour should be proactive in championing
procedural and tactical transparency in the management of workers' data,
it has remained notoriously opposed to biometric for the workers'
verification exercise. Labour actually went public to say there were no
ghost workers and vigorously resisted the use of the BDC machines for
months, before these appalling revelations from PHCN. And,
notwithstanding this latest disclosure, the electricity workers union
General Secretary, Mr Joe Ajaero, went public to contest the
disclosures, arguing that the union never conceded to the use of the
machine. This is, to put it mildly, very scandalous.
It is the duty of labour to protect the interest of workers and
protecting such interests includes ensuring that the nation is not
swindled in their name. It also includes ensuring that resources that
could be deployed to engage more jobless Nigerians are not pocketed by a
few selfish individuals. We believe that labour should allow the use of
biometrics so we can know the actual number of genuine workers. We also
believe the federal government should take the issue of ghost workers
more seriously by adopting a holistic, rather than ad hoc, approach to
tackling the menace. This mindless plunder of scarce resources has
lasted long enough. It must be stopped forthwith.
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