A statement issued by the minister of finance, Kemi Adeosun, on Sunday, revealed that the move has allowed the federal government to save about $11.5 million from its monthly payroll.
Adeosun, in a statement by her Special Adviser on Media, Mr Festus Akanbi, said the ghost workers were uncovered in payrolls of various MDAs during the ongoing Bank Verification Number (BVN)-based staff audit and enrolment to the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
The BVN is a unique number that identifies each bank’s customer for “Know Your Customer” (KYC) purposes.
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According to her, the ministry was working with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to recover the outstanding balance in banks and pensions contributed in respect of the deleted workers.
The statement reads in part, “Through the ongoing BVN-based staff audit and enrolment to the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, the Federal Government has removed 23,846 non-existent workers from its payroll.
“Consequently, the salary bill for February 2016 has reduced by N2.293bn when compared to December 2015 at which time the BVN audit process commenced.
“The Federal Government is also taking actions to pursue recovery of salary balances in bank accounts as well as any pension contributions in respect of the deleted workers.
“This involves active collaboration with the concerned banks and the National Pension Commission,” the statement added.