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From Abdulrazaq Mungadi, Gombe
Chairman of Kwami Local Government Area and head of the 2025 Gombe State Staff Verification Committee, Ahmad Wali Doho, said the ongoing audit of staff in local governments and Local Education Authorities (LEAs) across the state has uncovered irregularities amounting to N67 million in salaries.
Doho disclosed this during a press briefing shortly after the State’s Joint Project Council meeting held on Tuesday in Gombe. According to him, the audit and physical verification exercise, which commenced on June 12, revealed widespread discrepancies, including absenteeism and failure of some staff to appear before the committee.
“We realised a total number of 686 staff that failed to appear before the committee for the exercise, which involved local and state government workers. We calculated their salaries and it was amounting to N31 million,” he stated.
He further revealed that the April 2025 payroll included 265 individuals, who had either retired or passed away, yet continued to receive salaries. These payments, according to the chairman, amounted to N36 million.
“In addition, we found 258 staff listed as being on loan; they were employed elsewhere and working in different places, which is really unusual in the civil service system,” he added.
He noted that the committee is still in the process of finalising its findings due to the complexity of the audit. However, he commended the support of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and other stakeholders in ensuring the integrity of the process.
He said: “So far, we have recovered N67 million, and the exercise is not yet concluded. This effort is aimed at sanitising the system, ensuring only eligible staff are on the payroll, and ultimately, improving the welfare and efficiency of the local government workforce.”
He affirmed the commitment of Governor Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya’s administration to transparency, accountability and improving service delivery at the grassroots level.
The staff verification initiative is part of broader reforms by the state government to curb payroll fraud, eliminate ghost workers and reposition the civil service for optimal performance. “What we are doing is to make sure that we come out with something fixable and realistic for all the workers and that his excellency is determined to improve the lives and services of the local government staff,” the chairman stated.
