The ongoing 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, has began to reveal some facts. 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 at least three permanent secretaries in Niger State civil service earned over N1.3 million monthly.
As stated by the source, 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 extra 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.”
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 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 also 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.