Enugu uncovers 5,000 ghost workers, denies diversion of funds
From Lawrence Njoku, Enugu
OVER 5,000 ghost workers have been discovered on the payroll of Enugu State Local Councils in a recent workers' audit, the state government has said. It has also denied allegations of illegal diversion of allocations to the councils.
A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) based in the state, Foundation for Transparency in Nigeria (FTN), had during a press conference in Enugu yesterday, alleged that the state government, through the office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Political and Local Council Matters, Sam Ejiofor, siphoned funds meant for developmental projects, thereby denying the councils their share of the Value Added Tax (VAT).
FTN, which position was canvassed by its executive director, Mr Louis Onyia, accused the state government of operating a joint account which signatories were only the governor, the accountant-general of the state and the special adviser to the governor. It also called on President Obasanjo to institute a probe into how the funds meant for projects in the councils in the state were being used.
Reacting to the allegations yesterday, Ejiofor said the government had worked out measures to check fraud and misappropriation of funds allocated to the councils, adding that there was no iota of truth in the allegations.
Dismissing the allegations as the handiwork of political opponents of the government in the state, he said the government had instead, through an audit which was carried out between June and July this year by three different panels, saved money for the councils after the revelation that only 13,000 workers were on the employ of the 17 local councils in the state.
This, he said, is contrary to claims by council administrators who had put the total workforce at over 18,000 and have been paying salaries based on the figure.
The last audit, he added, was carried out with a video camera with which the pictures of the actual workers were recorded.
"When I called for nominal roll of workers from the 17 local councils, they gave me a workers' strength of 18,000 and above. I now printed a form and sent a team to visit all the councils for personnel and management auditing and the team came back with a result of 17,000.
"I now threatened the heads of personnel management and treasurers that they should explain the disparity between the 17,000 and 18,000. I called for another nominal roll, the same people who gave me 18,000 now gave me 16,000. I feel that there are still disparities in the whole exercise and decided to set up a three-man team that visited the councils. But this time around, I sent them with a video camera. After screening the person, they will take a live picture of the worker. After the exercise, we got 13,000 and this has saved a lot of money for the state", he said.
Ejiofor, who also denied that the state government was siphoning the local council funds through their joint account system, explained that the system had ensured transparency in the management of council funds and the provision of amenities to rural dwellers.
According to him, the allocations to the councils were not only made public, every deduction made from the account of respective councils was also based on agreement and consent of the council chairmen. Deductions, he said, are usually made for payment of primary school teachers' salaries and specific projects jointly funded by the state and local councils.
He added that the VAT allocations to councils in the state, which were usually paid directly into the various accounts of the 17 councils, are shared by the councils and various development centres in the state. He also said that there was never a time the state government "cornered any kobo" from the allocation.
