Nigeria’s finance ministry has revealed that it has removed more than 23,000 ghost workers from the national payroll, after a biometric investigation, saving 2.3 billion naira ($11.5 million) a month, according to reports.
According to the Guardian, the country’s anti-corruption audit is using bank verification numbers (BVN) to crack down on public salary fraud and auditors have so far checked roughly one third of Nigeria’s 1.2 million government employees.
The audit has revealed that that 7.6 percent of government employees either don’t exist or receive multiple salaries under different names.
To ensure consistency and transparency, the ministry reportedly said said it would now undertake “periodic checks and utilise computer-assisted audit techniques”.

Corruption has been Nigeria’s enduring problem and President Muhammadu Buhari has vowed to fight corruption.
Corruption is a blight stalling progress and development and Buhari has committed to ending corruption from Africa’s biggest economy. Last year, Buhari said $150 billion was looted from Nigerian state coffers over the past decade.
The news of the removal of the ghost workers has been welcomed on social media, with many expressing satisfaction at the development. The extent of corruption continues to appall many people in the country and across the continent.
Source: the Guardian