The Zamfara State government has said it has suspended three directors and five officials of the state Ministry of Finance over an alleged appointment racketeering that was allegedly discovered by the state ministry of Finance.
The suspension according to a reliable sourse followed the discovery of 5,000 ghost workers receiving salary amounting to tune of N216 million.
One of the suspended workers who allegedly aided the appointment racketeering, was reportedly receiving thrice the salary a medical doctor gets on monthly basis.
According to the state’s commissioner for finance, Rabiu Garba Gusau who confirmed the suspension, the illegal business was being done with Director, Finance, Hospital Management Board; Director Salary, State Ministry of Finance; and his deputy including five other officials in the ministry.
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The commissioner further stated that the suspended government workers will be prosecuted at a Court of competent jurisdiction if found guilty.
“It is a serious crime because Zamfara civil service is affecting the implementation of the new minimum wage. There are some workers that are receiving only N7000 because the wage bill almost tallies with monthly allocation and the internally generated revenue (IGR) is declining.
“In the next two weeks the public would know the outcome of the investigation, we would name all the officials involved and the banks that are aiding them in committing the fraud. We would submit the banks’ names to the Central Bank of Nigeria for further disciplinary action.”
According to him, most of the directors in the ministry have over ten people that they employed illegally receiving more than twenty million naira on monthly basis.
He noted that one Hannatu Shehu Idris, a sister to the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was receiving not less than N250,000 every month without justifying the salary.
“As of now, we have detected 4,972 ghost workers receiving salaries without justifying their salaries and this has to be stopped immediately,” he lamented.
The commissioner noted that there are so many governmental agencies where such dubious activities were being carried on without the public knowing what was in the offing.
“We are now set to expose their dubious activities because the state is getting better now than ever before,” his said.
