Staff Verification: Cleaner Earns N375,000 Monthly In Niger – Investigation

Facts are emerging from the on-going verification of the Niger State workforce on how government paid top government functionaries double salary and the way salary of junior officials are inflated to divert government fund. A messenger at the Ministry of Finance earns N265,000 monthly while a cleaner at General Hospital Minna earns N375,000 monthly.

It was learnt from sources close to the verification firm, Sally Tibbot Consultants that no fewer than three permanent secretaries in Niger State civil service earned over N1.3 million monthly.

It was revealed that ordinarily the salary of a permanent secretary should be between N400,000  and N500, 000 but the said permanent secretaries because of their professional background earn another salaries as consultants to another government agency bringing their monthly earnings to N1.3 million.

The source revealed that “the irony is that  some of the said permanent secretaries were members  of the  committee set up by the government to guide  the consultants in the ongoing verification exercise.”

Similarly investigation also  revealed that a messenger earns N265,000 in Ministry of Finance and a cleaner also earns N375,000 in General Hospital Minna  whereas they are supposed to earn   less than N30,000 each monthly.

In the same vein at the Veterinary Department  in the Ministry of Agriculture a man who took cows for grazing earns accelerated salary scale of  N375,000  while originally his salary is  only N23,000 monthly.

It was gathered that when the junior staff were confronted they denied collecting the said money rather it was discovered that their names were being used by top government officials to divert the said amount even as they collect their actual salary at the end of the month.

Consequently a ring of top officials who ran the scam with the names of the junior officials were being unveiled by the consultants and it has started sending fears to some officials in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in Niger State who are now running for cover.

The leader of the consultancy firm (Sally Tibbot Consultant) conducting the verification exercise Sa’adatu Bakrin-Ottun Sally in an interview  confirmed that the   Permanent Secretaries earned salaries from their profession as well as their present status.