Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has ordered a general verification and audit of staff of all the 18 local government areas in the state.
The governor’s order was contained in a statement on Tuesday by the Commissioner for Local Government and Community Affairs, Jimoh Ijegbai.
The order follows the discovery of ghost workers collecting salaries from Estako West Local Government Area.
The statement said about N46 million have altogether been collected as salaries unaccounted for at Estako West LGA.
Ijegbai said the chairman of Etsako West LGA, Yakubu Musa, has been directed to step down for investigation into the payroll fraud.
He explained that the fraud was uncovered after Obaseki frowned at the high wage bill of the local council which amounted to N66, 652,527.52 monthly, whereas Oredo Local Government with more staff strength was paying N59, 859,964.29 to its staff.
The statement said: “It was later discovered that the Authority of Etsako West Local Government entrusted the council’s payroll to a Grade Level Three (GL-03) Officer who inserted two fictitious names on the payroll through whom the Local Government was defrauded of the sum of Forty-Six Million (46 Million), from July 2018 to May 2019. The case is currently being investigated by security agencies.”
It also said that the council chairman should have raised alarm over its astronomic wage bill even without the addition of a new member of staff.
