Fraud: Zamfara Uncovers 119-year-old Man On Payroll; To Prosecute 108 Workers Over Double Salary

The Zamfara State Government says it has uncovered a 119-year-old (name withheld) on its payroll even as it planned to drag a total of 108 civil servants to court for receiving double salary in different ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) in the state.

The state’s Commissioner for Finance, Alhaji Rabi’u Garba, disclosed this at a press briefing on Sunday in Gusau.

Garba said the fraud was discovered during the ongoing investigation of workers’ salary issues by the state’s ministry of finance.

His words:
“The affected workers found collecting more than one salary at different MDAs were among the 4,972 civil servants who were suspended from receiving salary for the month of December 2019 as a result of various irregularities.

“We discovered these irregularities from the payroll of November 2019 salary in the state.

“We have suspended the affected workers from collecting salary until we conclude the investigation.

“We also found 109 workers whose official names are different from the names of their salary accounts.

“We discovered irregularities from 1,640 workers whose account numbers are not found in the CBN server.

“There are also 485 workers who are supposed to have gone on retirement but are still collecting salary. In fact, one of them is 119 years old but still collecting salary.

“We also suspended the salary of 1,548 workers receiving salary under micro-finance banks because of various irregularities.

“We have directed them to their MDAs for proper clearance.

“We have suspended the directors of finance of all the affected MDAs.”
He urged the workers in the state to be patient with the state over any inconvenience which the verification exercise might have caused. (African Examiner)