Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun yesterday disclosed that the federal government was investigating additional 11,000 ghost workers on its payroll, according to DailyTrust.
She told State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari that the
recent removal of 23,000 ghost workers from the federal civil service had reduced government’s monthly payroll by N2.29 billion.
Adeosun hinted that the audit exercise would be extended from payroll to other areas of government expenditure.
She said:
“We are using computer techniques to identify those who we need to investigate. So, we are now looking at the second batch, and as we resolve those cases, we will inform you of the amount saved and the number of people removed.”
Adeosun further disclosed that the Federal Executive Council yesterday approved a presidential initiative on continuous audit.
She said the FEC felt the continuous audit work should not just be limited to payroll, but also to strengthen internal audit across board.
She said existing qualified accountants in the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation would be engaged for the audit exercise.