Bayelsa State fishes out 5,000 ghost workers from payroll

The Bayelsa State Government on Saturday said it had fished out 5,000 ghost workers from its payroll.


The Chief Accountant, office of Special Adviser, Bayelsa Treasury, Account and Revenue, Dr David Ala-Peter, said the ghost workers were identified in the recent staff verification exercise, where more than 50,000 workers participated.

Ala-Peter said the exercise was aimed at identifying fake names to reduce the state’s wage bill.

He said, “The panel has done well during the exercise. We use software of international standard; we use oracle software.

“The method used was very effective. We have established staff data base; we captured both their finger prints, dates of birth and their credentials.

“During the exercise, we verified more than 50,000 staff. Right now, we are operating with little above 45,000 workers".