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The ghost workers syndrome
in Nigeria predates the second republic. Every government has desired to
resolve this cankerworm ravaging the public service without success. Several committees
were set up in the past to end the ugly trend but the more reports were turned
in, the greater the increase.
It is increasingly becoming
evident that it takes more than wishful thinking or mere policy statements from
the government to eliminate this menace. There have been uncountable physical
verification exercises of staff of ministries and agencies in the Federal,
State and Local Governments in the past with minimal or no results.
Who is a ghost worker?
He or She is a non –
existing employee who earns an undeserved monthly wage and enjoys the unequaled
incentives of services not rendered. His or her absence from duty and unknown
schedule benefits him/her, and the unscrupulous officer or group who employs
him to corruptly line his/their pocket(s).
The public service has
tacitly encouraged this unwholesome and unacceptable trend as if nothing is
wrong to the detriment of our nation. The system has pretended to be waging a
war against disorder while the solution knocks at the door step of the same
system.
The beneficiaries of the
sweet fruits of this system are the worms inside the fruit itself, which ruins
it. Government should not claim ignorance of the source of our clear
predicament. The person who is said to be behind the predicament of an
individual is that man very close to him.
An ordinary Nigerian who
knows the source of this mess, can pin-point it and offer useful suggestions on
how to end it. Why does it seem the government is at loss as to the step to
take? Those who sustain the evil are the same people that sit at the committee levels
of destroying the condition.
It is a syndicated brand
where the booty fuels the cars of beneficiaries, pay the school fees of
children, satisfies the pleasures of and lavish lifestyles of those who should
burst it. Before the introduction of
e-payment policy by government, state and local government secretariats were
always a beehive of activities as supposed staff throng in, in anticipation of
payment of salaries only for human traffic to dry up thereafter.
It is desperate cult of
money and power seekers who initiate subordinates strategically positioned and
designated to take this baton of corruption to the next stage in sustenance of
depraved legacy as the old ones bow out of service. The tree of ghost worker
syndrome was planted long ago and it will take the guts of a bulldozer to pull
it down.
Government must take
drastic action aimed at rooting out those involved in perpetrating the evils of
ghost workers syndrome wherever they are in Nigeria. Kemi Adeosun, the Minister
of Finance is at the vanguard of putting an end to it.
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| FG Probes 11,000 Ghost Workers – Minister Of Finance, Kemi Adeosun |
It was reported that the continuous
Audit Team has saved about N50 billion and over 43,000 ghost workers were
identified nationwide and removed from federal government payroll system. She also
promised prosecution of those involved in the scam.
One of the lasting
solutions to the inability of states to pay salaries rests in eliminating ghost
workers syndrome. The governors should, as a matter of urgency, borrow a leaf
from the federal government to stem the tide.
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