The Osun State Government has said that the allegation of N13 billion payroll scam by Sally Tibbot Limited is fake news sponsored by the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In a statement on Friday, the Osun State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Oluomo Kolapo Alimi, said there was no N13 billion payroll fraud, as verification of the controversial audit report confirmed that more than two-thirds of those declared as ghost workers are bona fide staff with full identification and documentation.
Alimi said Governor Ademola Adeleke is open to the investigation of the staff audit report by anti-corruption agencies, as he was the actual initiator of the audit project in the first place.
If there is fraud, it is Oyetola’s Administration
Alimi noted that Governor Adeleke hired the consultant to probe reports and rumours of padded payroll inherited from the administration of the immediate past Governor, Gboyega Oyetola.
“If there is any fraud, it is not that of Governor Adeleke but that of former Governor Gboyega Oyetola, as the audited payroll was inherited from the Oyetola administration,” he said.
He said Governor Adeleke will be happy if 15,000 ghost workers can truly be fished out, which is why he initially insisted, against all odds, that the audit report must be fully implemented before credible loopholes were discovered in it.
“As of now, the governor will be more than elated if the EFCC and the ICPC can help to identify the ghost workers. So the call by Sally Tibbot for the involvement of the anti-corruption agencies is most warmly welcomed. The governor has nothing to hide, especially as the payroll audit in question was between 2018 and November 2023,” the commissioner said.
Governor’s brother not part of the process, only intervened
Alimi further noted that the involvement of the governor’s brother, Dr Deji, was a result of information he received that bona fide civil servants were being declared ghost workers, and he wanted to ensure that no bona fide civil servants were unjustly laid off or dismissed.
“As he promised in 2022 to be a watchdog for good governance, Dr Deji intimated the governor of emerging negative reports and the governor, in a bid to validate the audit report, brought the consultant to Dr Deji’s residence to prove the validity of her report,” he said.
The commissioner said efforts to validate the report reached a crossroads when the consultant’s technical team confirmed that the payroll system about to be implemented as a replacement for Chams software has never been tested anywhere, a situation that raised alarm bells for Governor Adeleke and other functionaries.
“The public is invited to note that it was at this point that a proposal was made for a review committee to which the firm agreed, composed of Sally Tibbot and labour union officials, to work out a seamless implementation process that will also address all known loopholes.
“We affirm that the governor’s brother was never a party to the entire process except his intervention when it was obvious the staff audit report was already creating challenges capable of distracting delivery of good governance by the governor,” he said.
Osun govt accuses Sally Tibbot of padding staff audit report
The commissioner said the review committee, to which the firm agreed, later discovered that of the 8,448 workers declared as unseen by Sally Tibbot, 8,015 were confirmed as active workers, while 433 were found to be unreachable. Also, of the total 6,713 retirees declared as ghost pensioners, the review committee confirmed 5,830, while 883 could not be reached.
Alimi said, “Sally Tibbot, who had already inflated total alleged ghost workers to 15,000 to claim a payment of about Two Billion Naira was in desperation as the percentage claim to the firm had drastically reduced as total unreachable number of workers was less than 1,000, which eventually reduced the consultant payment to about forty seven million naira (₦47, 000,000).
“The public is invited to note that several invitations extended to the firm to visit and reconfirm the list of credible staff she declared as ghost workers were ignored as she held onto the faulty figures of 15,000 as ghost workers in the state.”
Uniosun VC, most lecturers declared ghost workers
According to the statement by Commissioner Alimi, the Vice-Chancellor of the Osun State University, alongside staff and lecturers across Osun tertiary institutions, were declared ghost workers and are now contemplating court action.
The Uniosun Vice Chancellor, Prof Adeboye, expressed shock and anguish that he and his colleagues were declared ghost workers, even though they were never found wanting or missing in their various institutions.
Professor Adeboye narrated that many victims are now finalising court action against the consultant to claim damages for declaring them ghost workers.
How Osun acted after the controversial report
Contrary to the consultant’s accusations, the state government, despite the significant loopholes and discrepancies identified in the staff audit report, went ahead to implement a homegrown payroll reform.
According to the government, a new integrated payroll system has since been introduced, while the bureaucracy has been further sanitised through tech applications.
While restating its readiness for intervention on the matter by anti-corruption agencies, the state government accused the consultant of serving as a willing tool for the APC, adding that “the APC-sponsored fake news has failed”.
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