There are certain stories you hear in
this country and it does not shock you anymore. The Federal Government on
Monday said it has 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.
“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 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.
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