The Federal government successfully identified and sacked 50,000 ghost workers. This has also saved the country a huge amount totaling up to N200 billion. The is consequent upon the taking off of N13 billion from the payroll, monthly, from February to December in 2016. The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu who made the disclosure to State House correspondents on Abuja also hinted that 11 persons championing the syndicate of ghost workers have been handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. President Buhari According to him, some were also undergoing trial at the courts. “The flagship program of the Muhammadu Buhari administration to rid the system of fraud and instill good governance is on course. Through a notable initiative, the Efficiency Unit of the Federal Ministry of Finance, the government has embarked on the continuous auditing of the salaries and wages of government departments. “When the the Committee was constituted in February 2016, Federal government monthly salary bill was N151 billion excluding pensions. Now the monthly salary warrant is N138 billion, excluding pensions. Which means that the government is making a monthly saving of about N13 billion. That is from February 2016 to date,” he said. He added that the “the pension bill was 15.5bn monthly as at February. Now it is down to N14.4 billion, which means average monthly saving is made of about N1.1 billion.” Speaking on the welfare of the recently-released 21 Chibok Girls, Garba said the girls have become the adoptees of the Federal Government even as he revealed that there local and international interests in the future plans of the girls were rising. He said that an America billionaire had opted to sponsor them in school. “A black American billionaire, Mr. Robert Smith who is currently sponsoring the education of 24 girls from Chibok, among them the first set set of escapees from Boko Haram at the American University of Nigeria, Yola has offered to pay for the education of the 21 released through negotiations and is offering to take responsibility for all the others who will hopefully be eventually set free.
The Murtala Mohammed Foundation in the country is equally interested,” according to the the Presidential spokesman. Responding to complaints by some of the parents of the 21 Chibok Girls that they did not have enough room for interaction with their daughters brought home for Christmas by the Department of State Services,DSS, the Senior Special Assistant to the President admitted that there were some hitches arising from a lack of understanding of the objective of the trip on the part of some security operatives but that following the receipt of this complaint, a directive has been given from the headquarters for the access by the parents to be eased. “If the situation persists, pls let us know so that the higher authorities will make a further intercession,” he assured. Also touching on board appointments as it affected members of the ruling the All Progressives Congress, APC, Garba assured that the process would continue early next year. ” You know that the reconstitution began methodically, from sector by sector. You should expect that to resume at the beginning of the new year. The President has given directions on what to do,” he said. On the agricultural programs of the administration, Malam Garba said that the President’s persistent calls for a return to farming was yielding good results. “The talk about agriculture has driven people to the farm. This year, there is a huge boom in the rural economy. We have witnessed an excellent harvest. Farmers are getting value for their output. What has encouraged farmers the more is the increasing availability of extension services. New farming techniques are helping farmers to do their occupation better. The readiness of off takers to buy the produce is also a major boost. “When you put all these together with the systematic move to curb importation as a boost local production through the restriction of the available foreign exchange to critically important sectors of the economy, you have favorable environment for the diversification of the economy. ” As we speak, several of the country’s major manufacturing industries are actively backward-integrating- Nestle, Unilever, the breweries are looking what we have as local materials, changing their formulations to maintain production levels and keep their share of the market. Manufacturers who are hooked on import of raw materials are advised to re-strategize and take full advantage of local raw materials. The future belongs to those who employ the use of local raw materials,” Garba said.
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