An investigation by the Niger State government has revealed that 340 civil servants in the state are either dead or retired but are still receiving salaries.
Also, workers numbering over 3,000 were discovered to have joined the civil service with forged certificates.
A committee set up by the state government to look into the over blotted salary bills of the state disclosed this to journalists on Monday at the Government House in Minna, Niger State capital.
Chairman of the Committee and Commissioner of Works, Ibrahim Panti told journalists that the findings took place after the Head of Service of the state forwarded the names of 26,387 civil servants to the committee, but only 25,861 of them were discovered to have registered on the screening portal.
Panti also revealed that 1,789 civil servants did not complete the screening process due to credential problems among others, while 773 civil servants among those who registered absented themselves from the screening exercise.
A total number of 169 screened staff were discovered missing from the September 2020 payment schedule submitted by the office of the Head of Service.
The committee said it is however still looking into the issues of some of the civil servants who may have a genuine reason for being absent.
Panti added that the comprehensive used in auditing the civil servants are available for possible human management development and for government stakeholders’ use.
“These data would henceforth serve as the fulcrum for easy identification of each employee going forward and is hereby presented for the restructuring of the state civil service,” Mr Panti said.
