By Chukwuemeka Opara
The Akanu Ibiam Federal Polytechnic Unwana, Ebonyi, on Wednesday, embarked on staff audit to identify ghost workers in the institution.
The Rector of the polytechnic, Dr Felix Attah, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) after being screened that the exercise would also involve certificate verification.
Attah said that the salaries of identified ghost workers would be stopped thereby saving funds for the federal government.
“I decided as the head of the institution, to identify the actual number of staff on our payroll.
“The Abia government recently conducted such an exercise and identified up to 2,300 ghost workers,” he said.
The Rector said that the exercise was organised by the school authorities and hoped to actualise the desired results.
“The institution’s management will, however, decide on the fate of staff with discrepancies in their certificates,” he said.
The Chairman of the staff audit and verification committee, Dr Adaku Achilike, noted that the exercise was normal to ascertain the institution’s actual number of staff.
“The authentic figure will be registered in the institution’s data base to ensure accurate number of staff.
“There will be no manipulation in the process as the screening of the rector shows that it has the backing of management,” she said.
She noted that the staff had shown enthusiasm to participate in the process and assured that the committee would be fair.
Mr Oji Nnachi, Secretary of the committee, said that the institution will benefit tremendously from the exercise.
“The Rector as an astute mathematician, believes in the accuracy of numbers and this will help in determining the actual staff strength.
“I am the deputy Rector and the head of the pension scheme and I am aware that staff exit the institution through retirement and death, among others,” he said. (NAN)
