Following the deployment of a biometric verification register for governmental servants in Gombe State, the government made an announcement regarding the finding of 523 individual workers who were not officially employed.
This was revealed by Governor Inuwa Yahaya during Thursday’s induction ceremony for the state’s newly hired biometric supervisors.
With the help of his deputy, Manassah Jatau, the governor made the claim that the biometric verification process, which began three years ago, has uncovered employees who do not exist and saved the state over N1.5 billion.
According to him, the state implemented 4,000 biometric devices for attendance registration nationwide, which helped uncover phantom employees.
International organizations like the World Bank and development partners like the Global Alliance for Vaccination and Immunization (GAVI) have recognized and supported this innovative program, which the governor said has saved the government a monthly sum of N23,758,858 since 2021.
According to Inuwa, the use of “ghost workers” has hampered the state’s efforts at social and economic growth.
The state’s fiscal transparency, accountability, and sustainability (SFTAS) initiative brought in four million dollars, according to Muhammad Magaji, Commissioner for Finance. This is a big deal because it shows the administration is serious about helping the people.
Payment of promotion arrears and unpaid gratuities is prioritized using the monies that are saved from the finding of ghost workers, according to Magaji.
The government’s goal, he said, is not to cut spending but to make payroll more efficient.
He announced that as a result of the financial management reforms, Gombe State is now considered one of the top states for payroll processing, and that around 305 young people have been hired.
Magaji demanded that the supervisors act professionally at all times, scolded them for being lazy or corrupt, and threatened to remove them from their positions if they did.