Payroll Audit Exposes Monumental Fraud In Benue

Payroll Audit Exposes Monumental Fraud

By Austin Atondu, Makurdi

OpenLife Nigeria has reliably gathered that a verification and payroll audit embarked upon by Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State has inexorably exposed monumental fraud by the immediate past administration in the State led by Samuel Ortom.
The verification and payroll audit, according to a statement from the government, focused essentially on all teachers and local government staff.
According to the findings, about 2500 ghost workers have been discovered to be on the payroll of the State government  which Governor Hyacinth Alia inherited.

The payroll audit  identified ghost workers, ghost schools, double dipping, unlawful employment, salary padding, payment to dead or retired individuals, unlawful replacement, inflation of the wage bill, as some of the payroll infractions discovered from the audit.

While the exercise is on going, statement from the government  disclosed that the ghost workers have already been removed from the payroll.

Consequently, Governor Alia has clarified that the ongoing audit has been hugely responsible for the delay in payment of salaries of primary and secondary school teachers as well as the Local Government staff.
The governor further clarified in a statement signed by Tersoo Kula, Chief Press Secretary to the Governor and made available to newsmen on Thursday, that the decision for the delay in the payment of salaries of the above mentioned workers was reached after the government discovered mindless padding of the wage bill, and other fraudulent manipulations on their payroll.

He stated that the decision became necessary after the discovery, to enable the government sanitize and cleanse the payroll; to ascertain the true wage bill of the state and to know the genuine workers that are worth their wages.

The governor has assured that workers who were successfully screened will receive their salaries before the end of this week, noting that government is not only fishing out ghosts workers and removing the padding associated with payroll fraud, but also putting in measures to ensure the systems are protected going forward.
Samuel Ortom, 62, who hails from Guma Local Government Area of the State, governed the State between 2015 and 2023.
His tenure ended on 29 May 2023, and was succeeded by a Catholic priest, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Iormem Alia, of the All Progressives Congress, APC.