Benue to handover fake workers at verification exercise to police

Deputy governor of Benue State and Chairman, Modified Table Payment Verification Exercise, Engineer Benson Abounu has warned that any fake staff that appears at the ongoing screening exercise would be handed over to the police for prosecution.

Abounu who gave this warning yesterday while addressing journalists at the commencement of the exercise held at Government House, Makurdi, intimated that over 44,000 workers are to be screened, 19,000 state civil servants and 25,000 local government staff.

According to him, this would go a long way in ascertaining the exact wage bill of the State which is over bloated, noting that the issue of salary padding will be eliminated.

Meanwhile, some government appointees who spoke to journalists after their screening including Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Mike Gusa, the Chairman, State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB and Special Adviser on Local Government, Chieftaincy Affairs Titus Zam as well as Commissioner for Agriculture, James Anbua, decried that the large number of ghost workers in the State, maintaining that the exercise will help in fishing them out.