Again, Ebonyi State Government Uncovers 250 Ghost Workers

Posted by African Examiner Ebonyi, Featured, Latest Headlines, News, News From The State Tuesday, July 5th, 2016

By Ignatius Okpara, Abakaliki,

EBONYI, NIGERIA (AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Barely two months Governor Dave Umahi, led administration in Ebonyi state uncovered job scam in its local government system involving 838 workers, the state Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), has again fished out another 250 ghost workers in the establishment.

State Chairman of the commission Chief Hyacinth Ikpo, who disclosed this to newsmen weekend in Abakaliki, said 57 staff of the agency were also discovered to have been earning double salaries over the years.

He regretted that cases of ghost workers and collection of multiple salaries had become rampant in the state.

Ikpo said: “I have been told to stop their pay for June; we are doing our best to stop them, but we have not succeeded hundred percent.”

The UBEC Chief explained that there was another incident where a teacher left her school for five years, hired the services of another person who had been representing her as the school teacher for the five years running.

“The absent teacher pays the person who represents her eight thousand naira monthly and takes the balance of the salary while still working in Abuja.

He said he had invited the headmaster of the said school who said she had been in the school for two years without discovering the impersonation.

“I will visit the school because I want to talk to the school teachers there.

“They are culpable having known of this impersonation and kept quiet for this long, I am going to set example with this”. Ikpo vowed

“We need to sanitize the system, in a certain case, level 13 teacher was heading level 15 teacher.

“I have given directive that such be immediately reversed as directed by the Governor.

“I invited the level 13 teacher and she told me that she had always been a Head teacher from level 7”

On the issue of alleged deduction of teachers’ salaries, he explained that there had never been such unless approved by the Nigeria Union of teachers (NUT).