Over 500 ghost workers found in Abia LGAs

ABIA Abia State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Emma Nwabuko, said his ministry has

ABIA Abia State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Emma Nwabuko, said his ministry has identified over 500 ghost workers in the local government system. He said this was one of the means unscrupulous council workers have been misappropriating government funds. By plugging this waste pipe, several millions of naira may have been saved, he said.

Nwabuko assured that those who have been identified as ghost workers and those who have been siphoning government funds through such fraudulent means are being investigated, adding that the panel will make its findings public soon.

Speaking with newsmen in Umuahia, Nwabuko said the introduction of the biometric data capture machine has helped the state government to identify ghost workers.

Nwabuko said that the identification of the ghost workers and the plugging of the holes through which funds are stolen have made the state government to save several millions naira. Such funds he said, will be ploughed back into the system to help in developing rural areas.

He recalled that when the biometric data capture machine was introduced, many workers resisted it, "because they use unscrupulous means to steal money from the system and since the state governor, Theodore Orji decided to put a stop to it that is why they are resisting it".