The Bauchi state government says it will prosecute the 1,115 ghost workers uncovered in the verification exercise of workers in the state and local government service.

The governor, Bala Mohammed, stated this when he received the report of the 25-member workers’ verification committee on Thursday in Bauchi.

The committee saddled with the responsibility of sanitising both the nominal and payroll of the civil servants in the state declared 1,115 ghost workers and 5,429 illegal employees in the state.

The committee also declared 1,712 illegal pensioners in the state and local government service.

The state governor Bala Mohammed said the government would constitute a committee to carefully study and implement the findings and recommendations of the verification committee and expressed readiness to prosecute the culprits.

He said that those found to be involved in collecting undeserved salaries and pensions would be prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to others.

While presenting the report, the chairman of the verification committee, Baba Tela, said that the committee adopted a task force approach to effectively handle the assignment.

Mr Tela, who is also the deputy governor of the state, said that the committee conducted verification of workers across the 76 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as well as the 20 Local Government Councils (LGCs).

He said that the total number of personnel uploaded on the employees’ enrollment portal for the state and local government stood at 80,236, comprising 29,752 for the state and 50,484 under the LGCs’ service.

The chairman revealed that N511 million was saved monthly from the exercise, while the total salary warehouse that would be paid to the cleared civil servants stood at N489.8 million.

Mr Tela said the committee recommended the continuation of qualitative analysis of nominal roll data; training of all process owners such as chief executive officers, permanent secretaries, directors, staff officers and accountants.

The chairman of the Bauchi chapter of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Danjuma Saleh, urged the state to expedite action on the implementation of the committee’s recommendations.

Mr Saleh, who is also a member of the committee, said the recommendations would prevent sharp practices and other leakages in the civil service.

The committee was set up in March 2021 with the mandate to clear and sanitise the nominal and payroll of the state.