Bayelsa uncovers 612 ghost teachers on government payroll

A review has uncovered 612 ghost workers in primary schools on government payroll in Bayelsa.

The state’s committee on review of grade levels and steps of local government and primary school staff said out of 7,207 primary school staff in the state, 612 were confirmed by headmasters as ghost workers in their schools.

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The committee chaired by Timipre Seipulou, technical adviser to the Governor Douye Diri on Revenues and Accounts, has presented its reports to the state government.

Governor Douye Diri had on April this year, constituted a 33-member Committee to Review of Grade Levels and Steps of Local Government and Primary School Staff.

Presenting the report to the state Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, who stood in for the governor, Seipulou, said the Committee reviewed a total of 14,258 cases in the various local government councils.

Senior Special Assistant on Media to the Deputy Governor,  Doubara Atasi, in a statement on Tuesday, quoted the committee as saying that they looked at the cases if 7,207 primary school teachers, 5,893 council staff and 1,189 health workers all in the local government service.

Seipulou noted that the Committee conducted a staff verification exercise using the March 2021 payroll as a template and discovered some anomalies.

The report added that 573 staff were not in the payrolls but were said to be physically present in the schools, while names of 10 dead and 13 retired staff were found in the payrolls.

The Committee however recommended the setting up of a special team to review cases of staff who appear in the payrolls but are not in schools as well as removal of dead and retired staff from the wage bill.

It also advised government to use the April 2021 payrolls, grade levels and steps report as a basis to conduct  physical verification of all staff with an Oracle Team on the ground to capture the biometrics of the workers during the verification exercise.

Receiving the report, the state Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, commended the Committee for doing a thorough work that would help in repositioning the local government councils for better service delivery.

He promised to convey the report to Governor Douye Diri and work closely with all relevant authorities in carrying out what he described as segmented implementation of the committee’s recommendations.