The drama regarding Bauchi ghost workers dated back to MA Abubakar’s administration. But it was amplified in the build-up to the 2019 general elections by then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara. Dogara at the time alleged that he had uncovered massive fraud perpetrated by the Bauchi State government under Governor Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar, amounting to the tune of N400 billion.
The allegations were frightening—leaving tongues wagging as to how MA Abubakar who had not employed a single worker was said to have spent such amount on salaries.
When Bala Mohammed was sworn in as governor—he immediately swung into action to uncover and take action on the anomaly. He started by suspending SUBEB contracts, one of the hotbed of corruption in the state’s civil service that is said to have housed thousands of ghost workers.
The Governor was unequivocal in his revelation—he said 20 in every 100 teachers on the paycheque of the state government were ghost teachers. And he was determined to fish out the ghost workers and get the culprits behind them brought to book.
On the 6th of July, 2019, the governor reiterated his resolve to once and for all fight the menace of ghost workers in the state by announcing more discoveries. He was again very brutal in his revelation—saying after receiving updates from a week long ministerial briefing, he understood that most of the ghost workers in Bauchi state were under the payroll of local governments.
The Governor immediately directed the State Civil Service Commission to block the leakages, pending an investigation which he says was in the offing.
From that time, at every point the governor was interacting with stakeholders, he could be heard lamenting about the ghost workers’ saga, which he referred to as ‘parasitic’; eating from the mean meal of the state, which only rely on the monthly federal allocation for survival.
For instance, while swearing in his commissioners, the governor, on September 6th tasked the newly appointed commissioners who were yet to get any portfolio at the time to join hands with his administration in its efforts towards repositioning the state and flushing out ghost workers.
The governor told them that there were plenty of ghost workers in their ministries and that they needed to be ejected out.
On the 21st of October, 2019, the state government through state’s Head of Civil Service announced that over 41,000 civil servants from different MDAs may lose October salary due to their inability to have Bank Verification Number linked to their salary accounts.
“From the available records, it was discovered that total number
of 41,448 staff were affected by this development with the following breakdown:
A) State service. 5,316
B). Primary Healthcare. 1,933
C,. Local Education Authority. 19,605
D, Local Government staff 4,705
E) State pensioners. 4,019
F) Local Government pensioners 5,870
The announcement was greeted with an urgent action by Governor Bala Mohammed. On the 25th of October, 2019, the governor suspended all education Secretaries, Directors of Primary Health care and their Treasurers of all the 20 local government areas of the state.
ALSO READ: BVN Verification: Will Bala Mohammed Win the War Against Ghost Workers?
In a statement, the state’s commissioner for information, Ladan Salihu says the suspension was to enable the state government conduct investigation into the payment of salaries to civil servants without Bank Verification, BVN.
It followed swiftly by setting up a 17 member ‘authentication committee’ whose terms of reference include to investigate whether the over 41,000 staff being paid monthly were genuine staff of the state.
The 17 member committee had 8 terms of reference that were categorical on BVN as could be seen below:
What it meant was that the affected workers needed to prove their genuineness as to whether they were civil servants of the state or not—so they needed to print their BVN and submit to their respective LGAs for verification.
Many of them trooped to their banks to obtain their BVN, many were extorted by a commercial bank amounting to N525 just to obtain their BVN print out.
Responding to the alleged extortion, Isiaka Tijjani, Secretary of the 17 member authentication committee said they have not asked any of the affected persons to submit his/her Bank Verification Number BVN—a clear contradiction of the terms of reference of the committee.
Isiaka’s declaration also contravenes an earlier assertion by the Chairman of the committee, Adamu Gumba who, during a press briefing pledged fairness to all and sundry regarding the BVN verification.
From the foregoing, one thing is clear—the recent drama in Bauchi state about ghost workers hinges around BVN. When workers are told that no one requested for their BVN regarding the verification amounts to double standards. The conflicting statements coming from different government officials regarding the BVN saga is beginning to cast doubt about the authenticity of the whole exercise—forcing some commentators to ask whether the governor was winning the war against the ghost workers or it’s another government hoax.
This, also points to the idea that the government needs to do more in managing information regarding its activities—for, information management is critical in averting speculations—and failure to do so may spell doom for an administration that rode on populists’ view to power. Its media managers need to do more in clearing the mess that is already garnering momentum—that could save it from a catastrophic end.
Haruna who tweets @haruna_babale is the Head of Investigations, WikkiTimes.
