Governor of Benue State, Hyacinth Alia, has said no fewer than 2,500 ghost teachers and local council staff have been discovered and removed from the state’s payroll.

Speaking through his Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Tersoo Kula, in Makurdi, yesterday, the governor said the discovery of the ghost workers was the result of extensive staff verification and payroll audit for all teachers and local council staff.

According to Alia, ghost schools, double dipping, unlawful employment, salary padding, payment to dead or retired individuals, unlawful replacement and inflation of the wage bill were some of the payroll infractions discovered from the audit.

He expressed regret over the delay in the payment of salaries, especially of teachers and local council staff.

Delay in the payment of salaries of the above mentioned workers, he explained, was taken after the government discovered “mindless padding” of the wage bill and other manipulations on their payroll

The decision, Alia added, became necessary after the discovery, to enable the government sanitise the payroll; to ascertain the state’s true wage bill and know the genuine workers that are worth their wages.

“Workers, who were successfully screened, will receive their salaries before the end of this week. Government is not only fishing out ghost workers and removing the padding associated with payroll fraud, but also putting in measures to ensure the systems are protected from such discrepancies in future,” he assured.