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Says 8,015 Out of 8,448 Workers Declared Unseen by Firm Confirmed Active
- Safiu Kehinde
The Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has faulted the report and claims of Lagos-based account auditing firm, Sally Tibbot, over the alleged N13.7 billion payroll fraud.
NPO earlier Reported the appearance of the firm’s CEO, Saadat Ottun, on Channels TV’s Politics Today programme on Thursday evening.
Saadat had recounted how her firm was contacted to conduct the audit.
While expressing her disappointment with the state govenrment’s refusal to implement the report, she highlighted some of the firm’s discoveries which included identification of over 8,000 ghost workers with over N13.7 billion paid to them annually.
She also alleged that over 5000 salaries were linked to two separate accounts.
Reacting to the claims in a statement issued on Friday by his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, Adeleke accused the firm of inflating the figures.
In what he labelled as fake news allegedly sponsored by the All Progressives Congress (APC), Rasheed held that more than two-third of those declared as ghost workers by Sally Tibbot were confirmed to be active workers.
The govenrnor’s spokesperson said that 8,015 out of the 8,448 alleged ghost workers were confirmed to be actively working at their respective designations.
He accused Sally Tibbot of inflating the figure in a bid to get a increased payment for the audit.
“There was no N13 billion naira payroll fraud as verification of the controversial audit report confirmed that more than two third of those declared ghost workers are bonafide staff with full identification and documentation.
“The review committee to which the firm agreed later discovered that out of 8,448 workers declared as unseen by Sally Tibbot, 8, 015 were confirmed as active workers while 433 were found to be unreachable.
“Also out of the total 6,713 retirees declared as ghost pensioners, the review committee was able to confirm 5,830 while 883 could not be reached.
“Sally Tibbot which had already inflated total alleged ghost workers to 15,000 to claim a payment of about Two Billion Naira was in desperation as the percentage claim to the firm has drastically reduced as total unreachable number of workers was less than 1000, which eventually reduced the consultant payment to about forty seven million naira (₦47, 000,000).” Rasheed wrote.
The media aide further disclosed how the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Osun (Uniosun) and some other active workers in the teritary institution were allegedly declared as ghost workers by Sally Tibbot.
“The Vice-Chancellor of the Osun State University alongside staff and lecturers across Osun tertiary institutions were declared ghost workers and are now contemplating court action.
“The Uniosun Vice Chancellor, Prof Adeboye expressed shock and anguish that himself and his colleagues were declared ghost workers when they were never found wanting or missing in their various institutions.
“He described the staff audit carried out by Sally Tibbot as a charade and sham, affirming that the firm demonstrated gross incompetence and open witchhunting of workers.
“Professor Adeboye narrated that many victims are now finalising court action against the consultant to claim damages for declaring them ghost workers.” He said.
On the involvement of the governor’s brother, Deji Adeleke, in the audit review, Rasheed held that Deji had only engaged himself in the audit after reports revealing the declaration of some active civil servants as ghost workers.
“The government further noted that the involvement of Dr deji was a result of information he received that bonafide civil servants were being declared as ghost workers and he wanted to ensure that no bonafide civil servants were unjustly laid off or dismissed.
“As he promised in 2022 to be a watchdog for good governance, Dr Deji intimated the governor of emerging negative reports and the governor in a bid to validate the audit report brought the consultant to Dr Deji’s residence to prove the validity of her report.
“The efforts to validate the report reached a crossroads when the technical team of the consultant confirmed that the payroll system about to be implemented in replacement for Chams software has never been tested anywhere, a situation that raised alarm bells for the governor and other functionaries.
“The public is invited to note that it was at this point that a proposal was made for a review committee to which the firm agreed, composed of Sally Tibbot and labour union officials to work out a seamless implementation process that will also address all known loopholes.
“We affirm that the governor’s brother was never a party to the entire process except his intervention when it was obvious the staff audit report was already creating challenges capable of distracting delivery of good governance by the governor.” The statement read further.
Meanwhile, Rasheed noted that the payroll probe and invitation of an auditing firm largely originated from the alleged padding of payroll by the administration of former governor, Gboyega Oyetola.
He disclosed Adeleke’s readiness to involve the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Crimes and Offenses Commission (ICPC) into the review of the audit.
“We submit that Governor Adeleke hired the consultant to probe reports and rumours of padded payroll inherited from the Gboyega Oyetola administration.
“If there is any fraud, it is not that of Governor Adeleke but that of former Governor Oyetola as the audited payroll was inherited from the Oyetola administration.
“We inform the public that the governor will be happy if 15,000 ghost workers can truly be fished out.
“This was the reason why the Governor initially insisted against all odds that the audit report must be fully implemented before credible loopholes were discovered in the report.
“As of now, the Governor will be more than elated if the EFCC and the ICPC can help to identify the ghost workers.
“So the call by Sally Tibbot for the involvement of the anti-corruption agencies is most warmly welcome.
“The governor has nothing to hide especially as the payroll audit in question was between 2018 to November 2023.” He said.
On action taken so far by the govenrment on the payroll fraud, Rasheed held that the Adeleke-led administration had since implemented a home grown payroll system to tackle the menance.
“Contrary to accusations by the consultant, the state government despite the big loopholes and discrepancies discovered in the staff audit report went ahead to implement a home grown payroll reform.
“According to the government, a new integrated payroll system has since been introduced while the bureaucracy has been further sanitised through tech applications.” The Osun Chief Press Secretary wrote.
Meanwhile, Rasheed noted that several invitations extended to the firm to visit and reconfirm the list of credible staff she declared as ghost workers was ignored as she held unto the faulted figures of 15,000 as ghost workers in the state.
While restating its readiness for intervention on the matter by anti-corruption agencies, the state government accused the consultant of serving as a willing tool for the APC, adding that “ the APC sponsored fake news has failed”.