TheCable

Kemi Adeosun, minister of finance, on Thursday revealed that about 23,000 ghost workers had been uncovered in the federal civil service.

Speaking when she appeared before the senate committee on finance, Adeosun said the adoption of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) and Bank Verification Number (BVN) platforms helped in exposing the fraud being perpetrated by civil servants.

She said those involved in the deal would soon be handed over to security agencies, adding that the banks used in carrying out the nefarious act would also be made to refund the money lost.

“We have discovered about 23,000 that we need to investigate,” she said.

“Those whom either the BVN is linked with multiple payment or the name on the BVN account is not consistent with the name on our own payroll.

“We will we remove those people from our payroll, and also go after the banks involved to collect our money.

“We’ve had a meeting on how we are going to clean them off. The process will be that we will suspend that person from the payroll pending the investigation.

“We will try as much as possible to conclude that investigation within 30 days so that we do not suffer innocent people, but we really need to clean our payroll.”

John Enoh, chairman of the committee, urged the minister to ensure that the funds appropriated to the ministry are used judiciously.