The Abia State government has identified 2,300 ghost workers in its payroll system and saved over N220 million on monthly wage bills.

The ghost workers were discovered following ongoing verification of civil servants in the state.

The Abia State Accountant General, Njum Onyemenam, made this known yesterday after a brief meeting with the state governor, Dr. Alex Otti, added that the verification exercise was still ongoing and that the government hopes to make more savings.

She said: “So far, we have been able to save N220 million from the ongoing verification of workers in the state, local governments, and pensioners.

“Not less than 2,300 ghost names have been weeded out of the payrolls, using the unified payment system and we hope to still identify more as we continue with the exercise.”

The Accountant General confirmed that following the  governor’s directive, the government had last week paid the arrears of April salaries left behind by the immediate past administration and also June pensions to retirees.

Also, local government staff, who had been skipped when the June salaries were paid, due to their failure to submit their verified payment schedule, will receive their salaries this week,” Onyemenam added.