[T]he Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, on Thursday described as unsustainable the Federal Government’s monthly wage and pensions bill of N165bn, saying this would be substantially reduced after all workers had been captured on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System.
Adeosun, who stated this at an interactive session with members of the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria in Lagos on Thursday, also said efforts were being made to ensure that all monies spent by the government were justified at all times.
The News Agency of Nigeria quoted the minister as saying, “What this government is doing is to ensure that every kobo we are spending is for the good of the people and is accounted for. We are moving away from the past when there was so much waste and people were just spending without really accounting for it.
“Whatever fund we are releasing now, we are asking questions on what it is used for. And we are doing that across the Ministries, Departments and Agencies. We believe that no nation attains development with so much profligacy, and that is why we are taking a number of steps to ensure that the country’s money actually goes to the people.”
Adeosun said the discovery of about 40,000 ghost workers on the government’s payroll through the Bank Verification Number and the IPPIS was a result of efforts to eliminate waste.
She said only one person out of the 40,000 ghost workers had so far complained that his salary had been stopped and that when he showed up, he was promptly arrested by the police.
The minister explained, “The government will prosecute all those involved in this scam. One of them was even discovered to have multiple identities and was operating about 200 accounts to draw money from the government every month.
“This is the kind of loopholes we are talking about. People were just paying salaries, no control. We are putting a check on the system and we even now have a unit at the ministry to monitor salaries alone.”
She said arrangements had been concluded to capture the personnel of the Nigeria Police, adding that the military, the prisons, railway and other agencies yet to be captured in the IPPIS would be incorporated soon.
Adeosun described corruption as the biggest barrier to the country’s development and gave an assurance that the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration would tackle the monster head-on.