Again, Osun Govt Dismisses Payroll Fraud Claims, Blames APC
The Osun State Government has once again refuted allegations of a ₦13 billion payroll scam involving Sally Tibbot Limited.
In a statement by the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi on Friday, the government described the renewed claims as fake news sponsored by the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC.
The government insisted that no such fraud existed, stressing that verification of the controversial audit report showed that more than two-thirds of those labelled as ghost workers were genuine staff with proper identification and documentation.
The statement maintained that Governor Ademola Adeleke remained open to investigations by anti-corruption agencies, noting that he initiated the staff audit in the first place to address concerns about payroll irregularities.
It argued that if any fraud were eventually established, responsibility would lie with the administration of former governor Gboyega Oyetola, from whom the audited payroll was inherited.
“The governor had initially pushed for full implementation of the audit report in a bid to identify and remove ghost workers before discrepancies in the consultant’s findings began to emerge.
“Governor Adeleke would welcome assistance from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) in uncovering any genuine cases of payroll fraud, stressing that the audit covered the period between 2018 and November 2023,” the statement added.
The government noted that bonafide civil servants were being wrongly classified as ghost workers, prompting concerns that innocent employees might be unjustly dismissed.
The statement disclosed that efforts to validate the consultant’s report stalled when the firm’s technical team admitted that the proposed replacement payroll platform had never been tested anywhere, raising serious concerns among state officials.
It said “a review committee comprising representatives of Sally Tibbot Limited and labour unions was subsequently proposed to resolve the issues and ensure a smooth implementation process.”
“The consultant inflated figures in the audit, claiming that of the 8,448 workers declared unseen, 8,015 were later confirmed as active staff while only 433 were unreachable.”
The statement alleged that the firm’s claim of about 15,000 ghost workers would have entitled it to roughly ₦2 billion in fees, but the figure dropped to about ₦47 million after the review reduced the number of unverifiable workers to fewer than 1,000.
Olamilekan Adigun is a graduate of Mass Communication with years of experience in journalism embedded in uncovering human interest stories. He also prioritises accuracy and factual reportage of issues.
