The pan Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere has requested the Federal Government to disclose the identities of persons who employed the 50,000 staffers recently retrenched from public service on the ground that they were ghost workers.
Afenifere’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr Yinka Odumakin, in a statement, faulted the decision of government not to reveal the names of the 11 civil servants, who masterminded the act.
This was as it noted that some politicians have been detained and charged to court over amount that are far less when placed side by side the N143 billion which the country was said to have lost to the ghost workers.
The statement reads: “The attention of Afenifere has been drawn to the recent revealation by the Federal Government that over 50,000 ghost workers have been retrenched from the public servive of the Federation.
“The country lost about N143 billion as payments to these ghosts while they were in the employment of the Federal Government. And as to the action the government has taken on the matter, we were told that the names of the 11 civil servants who masterminded the act have been sent to the EFCC for prosecution.
“We are alarmed that the 11 civil servants who committed this crime have been granted anonymity as the government has shielded their identities from the public.
“Yet this is the same country where politicians have been detained and charged to court over amount that pales into insignifiance compared to the N143billion involved here.”
The Yoruba group maintained that “it is this kind of impunity that has made iniquity to fester in Nigeria as there is no example to show that crime does not pay. About 4 years ago, former Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala told us that over 40,000 ghost workers were eliminated from the Federal service with no one prosecuted for the act.This must have encouraged the gang to increase their recruitment.
“In the same vein, we take notice of recent report that all the staff of the Federal Ministry of Finance who were fingered in the 2016 budget padding scandal have been posted to the cash office of the Ministry .We dont want to conclude that this is a promotion yet.
“We however demand immediate unveiling of the identities of the 11 officers who have been fingered in the 50,000 ghost workers standard. This would remove the fear that there is a grand conspiracy to cover up this crime.
“Finally, this scam has again raised the need to restructure Nigeria as the concentration of too much resources at the centre is one of the major incentives for corruption,” Afenifere said.
