Gombe State Governor, Muhammadu Yahaya, on Thursday, said that his administration has uncovered about 440 ghost workers in the state’s health sector payroll, saving more than N4.5 billion.

Yahaya disclosed this at the maiden Gombe State Health Summit held at the Gombe International Conference Centre.

According to him, the fraud was exposed after the government introduced a biometric attendance system across health facilities, a move he said was aimed at curbing absenteeism and strengthening accountability.

“In order to eliminate ghost workers and reduce absenteeism, we introduced a biometric attendance system, exposing about 440 ghost workers and saving over N4.5 billion,” Yahaya said.

The governor added that the measure was part of wider reforms to reposition the state’s health sector, which he described as being in poor condition when he assumed office in 2019.

“From revitalizing our primary healthcare centres to modernizing secondary facilities and establishing contributory health and pharmaceutical schemes, our vision has been to create a seamless, comprehensive healthcare ecosystem for Gombe,” the governor said.

In a related incident, the Katsina State Government recently uncovered and removed 3,488 unqualified and ghost workers from the payroll of its 34 local government councils and local education authorities.

The purge followed a biometric screening exercise involving more than 50,000 staff, of which 46,380 were verified, while the rest were exposed for presenting fake credentials, absconding from duty, engaging in fraud, or refusing to appear before the committee.

Governor Dikko Radda, who received the screening report, said the findings marked a turning point in sanitizing the public workforce and saving the state from waste. (The PUNCH)