FG uncovers 46,821 ghost workers, saves N118.9bn

The Federal Government on Monday said it had so far identified 46,821 ghost workers in 215 of its ministries, departments and agencies where it had introduced the Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System.

The IPPIS is a new innovation of the government that is meant to enhance efficient personnel cost planning and budgeting by making personnel cost to be based on actual verified numbers and not estimates

The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, confirmed the development during her presentation at the 2013 Ministerial Platform in Abuja.

The event provided an avenue for ministers to present their mid-term stewardship to Nigerians about their contributions to the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Okonjo-Iweala said as of January this year, the IPPIS had 153,019 members of staff of 215 MDAs, adding that work was currently ongoing to bring in the other 321 MDAs into the system.

This, she said was part of the reform measures aimed at ensuring transparency and accountability in the management of government resources.

The minister said, "The Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System enhances efficient personnel cost planning and budgeting, as personnel cost will be based on actual verified numbers and not estimates.

"Two hundred and fifteen MDAs (153,019 staff) are on the IPPIS as of January 2013. Savings on payroll cost to date is N118.9bn and work is ongoing to bring in other 321 MDAs not yet on the IPPIS. About 46,821 ghost workers have also been identified."

The minister also said the introduction of the Government Integrated Financial Management and Information System in April 2012 had helped to boost the speedy execution of the budget.

She said, "The GIFMIS is aimed at improving the acquisition, allocation, utilisation and conservation of public financial resources, using automated and integrated, effective, efficient and economic information systems.

"Fifty-eight per cent of the budget is now executed through GIFMIS. This is expected to rise to 79 per cent by end of the third quarter of 2013."

On the Treasury Single Account, which is a unified structure of government's bank accounts that gives a consolidated view of the cash position, Okonjo-Iweala explained that its introduction had helped to reduce how government's accounts were being overdrawn.

"Ninety-three MDAs are currently on the TSA. Government's overdrawn position has dropped from N102bn in 2011 to N19bn in 2012," he said.

The minister also said the Federal Government had taken adequate measures to increase non-oil revenues.

For instance, she said through tax enforcement mechanism, the government had recovered over N10.65bn as outstanding tax liabilities.

She also said the modernisation of tax administration and operation helped the government to register 227,140 new tax payers in 2012 alone.

Okonjo-Iweala also used the occasion to clarify what she called misconception about the country's debt position.

She said that contrary to the widely held opinion that Nigeria was becoming a highly indebted nation; the country's national debt was still low.

The minister explained that what the government was doing was to reduce domestic borrowing and take advantage of the interest-free loans from international financial organisations.

Giving a flow of the domestic borrowing, Okonjo-Iweala said N107bn was borrowed in 2006; N200bn in 2007 and N155bn in 2008