BVN expose 579 ghost workers In Plateau, saves 68m monthly.

Plateau State Ministry of Information has disclosed that the Bank Verification Number (BVN) exercise conducted by the State Government, aimed at identifying ghost workers among civil servants, has exposed 579 fake workers and saved N68,554,694.27, monthly for the state government.

Speaking with newsmen at the monthly ministerial briefing yesterday, the Commissioner for Information, Malam Muhammad Nazif, assured that government will sustain the exercise to ensure the ugly trend is completely brought to an end.

His words; “a BVN matching service for the state employees and pensioners was carried out, at the end of the exercise, 579 persons were taken off the salary payroll for various reasons, saving N68,554,694.27 monthly for the state”.

Nazif explained that a total number of 101 persons out of 579, guilty of the offense will make a combined refund of N76,763,551.15 for staying in service beyond their terminal dates.

The Information Commissioner noted that one of the high points of Governor Simon Lalong’s administration is to turn around the fortunes of the state by taking measures to improve revenue generation and block leakages in financial operations, adding that Lalong has ensured the full implementation of the International Public Sector Accounting Standard (IPSAS).

“The governor has consequently approved the production of IPSAS Cash Basis Accounting User Manual Volume 1 and 2; and also the verification, valuation and documentation of fixed and movable assets of ministries and agencies in the state.

“This project is necessary for the migration from cash basis to Accrual Basis of IPSAS”, Nazif said.