CIVIL servants in Taraba State have declared that the Eid-el-Kabir celebration would be a sorrowful celebration since over 7,000 of them were recently declared as ghost workers and removed from the state’s payroll.
A biometrics screening committee set up by the state commissioner for Finance Mrs. Selah Enoch Adi, headed by a permanent secretary under the office of Secretary to Taraba State Government (SGS) Mallam Haruna Abdulkadiri after its assignment declared over 7,000 civil servants in the state as ghost workers.
This newspaper investigation gathered that no fewer than 70 workers under the office of the accountant general of the state who have been working in the department for over 27 years and have been constant on the pay roll of the state have been sacked by the Abdulkadiri-led committee.
Investigation further revealed that the state’s accountant general, Mr. Gaius Danjuma had in 2024 conducted the same biometric screening and came up with a total number of 24,000 genuine civil servants under the state’s payroll which was submitted to the state’s Governor Agbu Kefas.
It was gathered that the Abdulkadiri-led committee came up with a total number of 19,000 civil servants on his list after his biometric. He declared those who recently gained employment with the state government and the other 5000 workers who were screened by the accountant general as ghost workers, amounting to over 7,000 civil servants who were deleted from the payroll.
Those declared as ghost workers have already been deleted from the payroll of the government, our investigation revealed.
The civil servants who spoke to our correspondent said it affected a large number of workers including those who are serving as directors and deputy directors in the state.
“My boss in the office, a director who has served the state for over 28 years, has been deleted from the payroll. Over 200 civil servants have been declared ghost workers by the Abdulkadiri-led committee. Here in the Ministry of Information, we could not get our salaries. The situation is so confusing,” a secretary at the Ministry of Information who spoke to our correspondent stated.
The civil servants who are Muslims lamented that for them and their families, it is a sorrowful Sallah celebration since they have been removed from the payroll and could not get their salaries.
Two civil servants who spoke with this newspaper on Friday called for the state governor, Agbu Kefas, to intervene quickly. They stated that the governor’s intervention would save many lives since they have no alternative means of livelihood.
The chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Taraba State chapter, Peter Jediel, confirmed that he has engaged the Abdulkadiri-led committee over the discrepancies in salary payments in the state.
“We are yet to conclude our engagement with the committee, we will call you as soon as we are done with the committee,” he stated.
The commissioner for Finance, Selah Enoch Adi, did not respond to the message sent to her for confirmation of the development, although, the chairman of the biometric screening committee, Haruna Abdulkadiri, told our correspondent that he would react to the issues at the appropriate time.