Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has welcomed the call by a forensic audit firm, Sally Tibbot, for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to review allegations of 8,452 ghost workers in the state payroll.
In a statement signed by his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, the governor said both agencies were free to examine the payroll he “inherited” from the administration of his predecessor, Adegboyega Oyetola.
“What they will be checking and reviewing is the payroll and personnel list inherited from the Oyetola administration. We therefore welcome the call for the EFCC and ICPC to review the audit report submitted by Sally Tibbot. Let officials from the Oyetola administration brace themselves for the exercise,” he said.
BEYOND AFRICA had reported that the audit firm accused the state government of paying ghost workers a total of N13,716,914,129.28 annually.
The Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the firm, Sa’adat Bakrin-Ottun, disclosed that the figures emerged from a comprehensive forensic audit and payroll validation exercise conducted for the state government, which, according to her, revealed pervasive payroll fraud within the state’s civil and public service system.
Bakrin-Ottun, at a press conference in Lagos on Friday, revealed that as of January 2023, the state payroll stood at N4,483,943,105.70 monthly for 37,456 staff and 17,918 pensioners.
She said that after the audit, the verified payroll was reduced to N3,340,866,928.26 monthly, covering 29,004 genuine staff and the same 17,918 pensioners.
But Adeleke insisted that his administration had neither expanded nor altered the personnel and payroll structures inherited from the previous government.
“Moreover, what was audited was the payroll and personnel structure under Oyetola’s administration,” the statement said.
The governor emphasised that he should be commended for refusing the consultant’s recommendation to lay off legitimate workers for personal gain.
“We stop likely fraud even while pushing to clean up the system,” he added.
