Delta State Government Vows to Fish out Ghost Workers

Delta State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa

 Governor Ifeanyi Okowa says Delta Government has put machinery in place to fish-out ghost workers from its 66,000 workforce.

 The governor said this when he presented his First Year Performance Report in Asaba on Monday.

He said his administration inherited between 66,000 and 68,000 workforce which he described as huge, given the current economic situation.

He said the decision to fish out the ghost workers was not to retrench workers but to ensure that those working earned their wages. 

 He, however, appealed to workers to support government to fish out those who were not working but receiving salaries.

“We met staff strength of between 66,000 and 68,000. Our neighbouring Edo State has staff strength of about 21,000. A lot of people are not in this country but they find themselves on our payroll, while many other persons are working elsewhere and they are on our payroll. A policeman has been discovered during promotion interview, to be working and receiving salary as a civil servant with the state government,” 

 On the Treasury Single Account (TSA), the governor said that the state was careful not to make mistakes.

He said there were many other states that had not adopted TSA and that it was not peculiar to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) states.

“We have to understudy it to be sure that we do not make any mistake, we are aware that there are lots of gains in it. We are also aware that we need to apply it rightly; otherwise we will have different challenges. We may be going into a modified TSA,” he said.