The Independent Corrupt Practice Commission and other related offences (ICPC) reported that if not for its proper scrutiny, N49.9 billion would have been paid as salaries to ghost workers between January and June 2022.
Following the report by the ICPC, the federal government said it has commenced an investigation to unravel those behind the humongous amount which was budgeted for ghost workers.
The federal government promised that the investigation will cut across all ministries, departments and agencies indicted for the act.
On the 15th of September, 2022, the ICPC disclosed that the 2021 budget was padded by the Ministries, Departments and Agencies, with duplicated projects worth N300 billion
The ICPC Chairman, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye during a session with the Senate Committee on Finance also declared that the 2022 budget was also paddled with duplicate projects to the tune of N100 billion.
Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye noted that if not that ICPC carried out a thorough scrutinisation on the approved projects for the various MDAs in 2021 and 2022, such amount would have been wasted and embezzled.
The ICPC boss stated, “N300 Billion would have been wasted by the Federal government on duplicated projects inserted into the 2021 budget and N100 Billion for the same purpose in the current fiscal year if not tracked and intercepted by ICPC.”
“The same preemptive move, saved the country from spending N49.9billion for salaries of ghost workers put on fictitious payroll by the fraudulent MDAs between January and June this year.”
The development excites the Senate Committee on Finance and as a result, the committee chairman, Senator Olamilekan Adeola, who was delighted by the progress on behalf of the committee said the operational cost of the agency will be increased above N1.8billion which the agency had earlier sought.
Meanwhile, the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment said the administration was working towards establishing job centres in each of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, as well as the 774 Local Government Areas in order to cut down on the number of unemployed people.