Oyo State Conducts a Staff Audit and Discovers Ghost Workers

The Oyo State 2019/2020 Civil/Public Servants Audit and Payroll Re-engineering/Validation Exercise Implementation Committee has recommended the termination of 41 staff categorised as “No Show” (ghost workers) by the consultants.

The consultants had indicted and recommended the dismissal of 602 officers, but the Implementation Committee confirmed 41 ghost workers, exonerated 40 others of any wrongdoing, discovered 10 deaths, and made 170 methodical retirements.

It also confirmed that 341 others with erratic service records could choose to resign voluntarily.

Mr Taiwo Adisa, Governor Seyi Makinde’s Chief Press Secretary, said the Implementation Committee had reviewed the consultants’ report and spoken with the impacted officials before finalizing the implementation model.

Messrs The Oyo State Government has appointed Sally Tilbot Consulting in 2019 to conduct employee and pensioner verification/validation and payroll re-engineering, dubbed the 2019/2020 Staff Audit.

In a report provided to the government on April 30, 2021, the consultants indicted 602 people, advising that they be removed off the payrolls, based on a series of reconciliations, after which an Implementation Committee was formed to fashion out the final implementation model.

The 13-member Implementation Committee, led by Mr D.O. Olatunde, Permanent Secretary, Civil Service Commission, agreed that 41 personnel identified as “No Shows” should be promptly dismissed from government payrolls.

An administrative investigation is underway.
It was suggested that the government conduct an administrative investigation to identify where the wages of the “No Show” cops had gone.

290 officers have turned in their voluntary retirement letters out of 341 who informed the Implementation Committee of their decision to retire, while the 24 officers who did not take advantage of the two-month opportunity have been retired by the relevant government agencies.

However, the Implementation Committee, in its May 2021 report, suggested that the government affirm the resolve of the 341 officers who chose to retire voluntarily after discovering improper service records in their files. The impacted officers will be “assisted to move into the pension payroll not later than two months after their separate notifications of retirement,” according to the document.

Read also: Ekiti Govt Uncovers 362 Ghost Workers

Governor Seyi Makinde’s administration had laboriously convened a series of reconciliation meetings to review the report of Sally Tilbot Consultants, which conducted a forensic analysis of civil/public servants between 2019 and 2020, and then set up a 13-member Implementation Committee, led by Olatunde, to fine-tune the final processes of its implementation.

However, the Committee recommended in its report to the government that 170 officers who were found to have “retired systematically” (retirement based on age or years of service) be removed from the list of 602 previously recommended for sanction by Tilbot Consultants, and that the list of affected officers from Tertiary Institutions be forwarded to their respective governments.

“As a result, the Committee agreed that forty (40) officers should be absolved and allowed to remain on government payrolls; one hundred and seventy (170) officers who had retired systematically should be allowed on pension payrolls; and ten (10) deceased officers should be paid their due entitlements,” according to the report.

Other members of the Committee include Prof. Musibau Babatunde, Special Adviser, Economic Matters to the Governor; Comrade Bayo Titilola-Sodo, Special Adviser, Labour Matters; Mr Akin Funmilayo, Permanent Secretary, Local Government Service Commission; and F. Akin Funmilayo, Permanent Secretary, Service Matters, Office of the Head of Service.

Mrs A.A Fasina, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance; Mrs Folabimpe Segun-Olakojo, Acting Solicitor-General of the State; Mr O.J. Adeniyi, Executive Secretary, State Universal Basic Education (SUBEB); Comrade (Mrs) K.F Aiyedun, Representative of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC); Comrade Kola Badmus, Representative of the Trade Union Congress (TUC); Comrade Kola Badmus