Delta Uncovers Another 23,000 Ghost Workers

Delta State Government has uncovered another round of 23,000 ghost workers across various parastatals in the state.

Worse hit in this exercise of what is described as “Operation Fish Out Ghost Workers” is the education sector where fictitious names and non-existing persons were greater in number than the actual workers.



Although indications are that many of the teachers were also uncovered to be non-Deltans, findings revealed that they were allegedly employed after bribery payment between N200,000 and N250,000, after they submitted forged local government of origin certificates.

LEADERSHIP reports that the menace of ghost workers has remained a nightmare to Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan administration, shooting up the state’s wage bill very high.

The state, in its bid to flush out ghost workers, last year uncovered no fewer than 15,000 such cases, many of them local government staff and other in the teaching service commission.

Further checks revealed that it might be difficult for the state government to eradicate completely the issue of ghost workers following the alleged involvement of its top officials who benefit from the illegality.

Special Adviser to the Governor on Labour and Industrial Relations, Comrade Mike Okeme, disclosed to LEADERSHIP that government recently uncovered a significant rise in its wage bill, even though no new workers were hired.

Comrade Okeme explained that in the light of that discovery, the state government had to probe the increment in order to plug it, adding that a new biometric exercise of the entire staff was ongoing and would solve the matter once and for all.

At present, the situation has created panic waves among the civil servants especially those whose unsuspecting relations have been among the ghost workers.

Leadership