Lagos (AFP) - Nigeria's finance
ministry said Sunday that it had saved millions of dollars for the
cash-strapped government by removing more than 20,000 "ghost workers"
from the state payroll.
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| Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari (R) speaks to members of the National Assembly after submitting his record budget for 2016 in Abuja, on December 22, 2015 (AFP Photo/Sunday Aghaeze) |
The
eliminated ghost workers represented just a "percentage" of
"non-existent" staff who had been receiving monthly wages, highlighting
the brazen corruption in Africa's biggest economy.
"The
salary bill for February 2016 has reduced by 2.293 billion naira
($11.53 million)," finance ministry advisor Festus Akanbi said in a
statement.
Akanbi said that
stricter payroll regulation would boost the budget at a time when
Nigeria's state coffers are depleted as a result of the collapse in
global oil prices.
Trimming
personnel costs "is key to funding the deficit in the 2016 budget, as
savings made will ultimately reduce the amount to be borrowed," Akanbi
said.
Nigerian President
Muhammadu Buhari announced a record budget in December promising to
stimulate growth and build infrastructure in the oil-rich but
import-dependant nation.
He has vowed to infuse the budget with money recovered in his quest to stamp out endemic corruption in Nigeria.
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