Audit Firm Accuses Osun Govt Of Paying Ghost Workers N13b

A forensic audit firm, has accused the Osun State Government of inserting a total of 8,452 alleged ghost workers into the state’s payroll.

It said the state consequently  them the sum of N13,716,914,129.28 annually.

The allegation was made by the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SALLY TIBBOT Consulting Limited, Sa’adat Bakrin-Ottun, the audit firm which looked through the state government’s spending papers.

Speaking through the company’s legal counsel, Jiti Ogunye, at a press conference held at the Nigeria Union of Journalists Secretariat in Lagos on Friday, Bakrin-Ottun said the figures emerged from a comprehensive forensic audit and payroll validation exercise conducted for the Osun State Government.

According to Bakrin-Ottun, her audit firm was formally engaged by the Osun State Government over the exercise, following a proposal dated January 11, 2023, after which a formal auditing and consulting agreement was executed on May 22, 2023.

The auditing exercise eventually turned out one of the most extensive payroll audits ever undertaken in Osun State, and lasted between June and December 2023.

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“The execution of the contract was very challenging, life-threatening and laden with security threats and bureaucratic subversions, understandably because the audit unearthed pervasive payroll fraud and corrupt practices in the state’s salary payment system,” she said.

As of January 2023, the Osun State payroll stood at N4,483,943,105.70 monthly for 37,456 staff and 17,918 pensioners, she said.

However, after the audit, the verified payroll was reduced to N3,340,866,928.26 monthly, covering 29,004 genuine staff and the same 17,918 pensioners.

This scrutiny revealed that 8,452 ghost workers had been fraudulently inserted into the payroll, resulting in a monthly loss of N1,143,076,177.44 and an annual loss of N13,716,914,129.28 to the state.

And despite that the audit report was submitted to Governor Ademola Adeleke on June 27, 2024, with its findings clearly stated, the state government had neither implemented the recommendations nor paid the agreed professional fees.

As to the fact that a subsequent re-verification exercise invalidated SALLY TIBBOT’s findings, Bakrin-Ottun countered this, thus:

“The claim that our findings were exaggerated or false is reckless, malicious and defamatory.

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“It seeks to impugn the integrity and professional reputation of SALLY TIBBOT. For six months, we moved from local government to local government and from institution to institution, physically verifying staff and capturing their images.

“The Osun State Government instructed all staff to be available, and orientation exercises were conducted to ensure cooperation. No one was left out.

“We have no choice but to call on anti-corruption agencies to look into these issues.

“We are not doing this in the interest of any third party, but to ensure the implementation of our recommendations and that the state government pays us,” she said.