Consultant Accuses Osun Of Paying Over 8,000 Ghost Workers N13bn, Adeleke's Govt Strongly Reacts
- An audit has revealed an alleged N13.7 billion payroll fraud linked to ghost workers in Osun State, southwest Nigeria
- The Osun government denied the allegations, blaming former Governor Gboyega Oyetola for potential fraud
- Consultants plan to involve anti-graft agencies, EFCC and ICPC, for further investigation into payroll discrepancies
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Legit.ng journalist Ridwan Adeola Yusuf has over 9 years of experience covering politics, elections, public affairs, and governance in Nigeria and Africa.
Osogbo, Osun State - An audit firm, Sally Tibbot Limited, has alleged a staggering N13.7 billion annual payroll fraud involving thousands of ghost workers and pensioners in Osun State.
The firm’s chief executive officer (CEO), Sadat Bakrin-Ottun, made the disclosure on Politics Tonight on Channels Television on Thursday, February 19, as monitored by Legit.ng. She said a 12-month forensic audit uncovered alleged yearly losses of about N13.7 billion to non-existent employees and alleged fraudulent payroll practices under the administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke.
Source: Twitter
Consultant uncovers alleged ghost workers in Osun
Bakrin-Ottun explained that the Osun government formally engaged her firm after submitting a proposal dated January 11, 2023. The contract was awarded via a letter dated April 11, 2023, to audit and validate the state’s payroll system. A formal auditing and consulting agreement was subsequently executed on May 22, 2023.
She said the mandate covered a comprehensive staff verification, payroll re-engineering and validation exercise across the civil service, local governments, the State Universal Basic Education Board, the Teaching Service Commission, state-owned tertiary institutions, and all state and local government pensioners.
Describing the process as one of the most extensive payroll audits in Osun’s history, Bakrin-Ottun said it was designed to verify everyone drawing salaries or pensions from the state treasury, The Punch noted.
The consultants, Legit.ng gathered, are now planning to petition the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate those allegedly responsible for siphoning billions of naira from the state.
Osun govt reacts to allegation
Meanwhile, the Osun State Government has dismissed the alleged payroll audit fraud as fake news allegedly sponsored by the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In a statement issued on Friday, February 20, and signed by Kolapo Alimi, the commissioner for information and public enlightenment, the government maintained that if any fraud occurred, it would have taken place under the administration of former Governor Gboyega Oyetola, not the current administration.
Source: Instagram
The statement partly reads:
"The government of Osun state has again strongly refuted allegations of N13 billion payroll scam by Sally Tibbot Limited, describing the renewal of the allegation as an APC-sponsored fake news.
"The government insisted that there was no N13 billion naira payroll fraud as verification of the controversial audit report confirmed that more than two-third of those declared ghost workers are bonafide staff with full identification and documentation. In a strongly worded statement on Friday morning, the state government declared for the second time that Governor Ademola Adeleke is open to the investigation of the staff audit report by anti- corruption agencies as he was the actual initiator of the audit project in the first place.
"If there is fraud, it is Oyetola’s administration. We submit that Governor Adeleke hired the consultant to probe reports and rumours of padded payroll inherited from the Gboyega Oyetola administration.
"If there is any fraud, it is not that of Governor Adeleke but that of former Governor Oyetola, as the audited payroll was inherited from the Oyetola administration."
The government's full statement on X can be read below:
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Osun debunks LG salary withholding claims
Legit.ng earlier reported that the Osun government rejected claims that local government (LG) workers in the state are not receiving their salaries, describing the narrative as inaccurate and misleading.
In a post on its official page on X, the state government said the issue being discussed publicly does not reflect the reality of salary administration across the councils.
Source: Legit.ng
