The Federal Ministry of Finance said it would refer issues
concerning ghost workers to the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related
matters Commission (ICPC) to prosecute those involved.
This is contained in a statement issued by Mr. Paul
Nwabuikwu, Special Adviser on Media to the Coordinating Minister for the
Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on Wednesday in Abuja.
“It is public knowledge that as a result of the
implementation of IPPIS, about 45,000 names of ghost workers have been taken
off the payroll and about N118 billion saved.
“The Federal Ministry of Finance has taken the additional
step of referring the issue to the ICPC for further investigation so that any
identified culprits can face the full wrath of the law," it said.
According to the statement, the allegation that the Budget
Office of the Federation and other agencies have the highest proportion of
ghost workers in the country was misrepresentation of facts.
It said that the Budget Office was one of the pioneer
agencies on the IPPIS platform since 2006.
It added that through biometrics and other processes, ghost
workers had been eliminated from its payroll for about seven years now.
"The failure to give a time frame to this allegation was
obviously done in bad faith to give a negative impression.
"The Federal Ministry of Finance will, in line with its
statutory mandate and international best practise, continue to manage the
finances of the country transparently and accountably," it added.
On a recent court judgment involving the Federal Ministry of
Finance, it said that it never rejected any requests for information from civil
society groups on appropriations and statutory transfers.
"It is public knowledge that the ministry has consistently
implemented a policy of transparency and accountability in the management of
the economy and public finances.
"This is demonstrated in the monthly publication of
allocations to the three tiers of government, regular updates on the status of
funding of SURE-P programmes, payments to oil marketers for verified imports of
petroleum products.
"We therefore have no basis for rejecting any legitimate
requests for information on allocations to any government ministry or
agency," it said.
It noted that the ministry, through the Budget Office of the
Federation, would collate the details of appropriations and statutory transfers
to the National Assembly, the Independent National Electoral Commission and the
National Judicial Council.
Others, it added include the Niger Delta Development
Commission, Universal Basic Education and National Human Rights Commission for
publication.
"These agencies are all on first-line charge to the
Federation Account and, therefore, the ministry must work with them to obtain
the necessary information," it said.
(NAN)
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