By Umar Aache
No fewer than 4,000 ghost workers have been detected to be in the pay-roll of the Niger State Government.
The state governor, Alhaji Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, who disclosed this in his State of Service Address in Minna, said the ghost workers were detected in the on-going biometric data capturing exercise organised to ascertain the authentic number of civil servants in the state.
Presently, the governor said, the state has 33,000 workers in its pay-roll.
He explained that savings from the exercise would be used to deliver essential services to the people.
According to him, the exercise would also be carried out in all the 25 local government areas of the state to determine the strength of their workforce.
The governor lamented that about 50 percent and 40 percent of the total revenue accruing to the state and local governments respectively, went into payment of salaries and emoluments, thereby limiting government's capacity to execute capital development projects.
"Whereas government does not intend to cause more social problems in the society by retrenchment, it has become inevitable to conduct a staff verification exercise to curtail wastage and related corrupt practices", he stressed.
The governor said that his administration was committed to reinvigorating the civil service for efficiency and higher productivity.
"We also have a strong commitment towards the prompt payment of retirement benefits to our retirees for the contributions they made to the state while in service", he further stated.
The governor disclosed that his administration has settled backlogs of gratuities inherited from the previous administration to enable the retirees enjoy a stress- free life in retirement.
He explained that the government has paid the sum of N3.93 billion as retirement benefits in the last 12 months, urging the civil servants in the state to re- double their efforts to ensure the realisation of "my vision of transforming Niger State into one of the three best developed states in the country by the year 2020".