The Katsina state government has dismissed 3,488 staff from 34 Local Government Councils (LGCs) and Local Education Authorities (LEAs) found with fake credentials, following a biometric screening exercise.
The 10-member committee uncovered falsified birth certificates, underage employment, illegal promotions, and cases where staff positions were sublet to others.
The committee also recovered N4.6 million from employees found to be drawing double salaries or collecting pay while on leave.
The findings were formally presented at a state executive council meeting attended by senior government officials and members of the biometric screening committee.
The exercise has produced the state’s first unified digital database of all LGC and LEA staff and is projected to save N453.3 million monthly if the committee’s recommendations are fully implemented.
Committee chairman, Abdullahi Gagare, while presenting the report to Governor Dikko. Radda highlighted a particularly serious case in Zango LEA, where the education secretary conspired with others to insert 24 ghost workers, calling it a “serious breach of trust.”
Governor Radda, who received the committee’s report on Wednesday, September 24, said the screening covered 50,172 staff members.
“Of these, 46,380 were verified, while the remainder were found with fake credentials, ghost postings, unexplained absenteeism, or failed to appear for verification.
Governor Radda has ordered that the committee’s findings be compiled into a White Paper to ensure full implementation.
He revealed that local governments have already saved approximately ₦500 million, a figure expected to rise to ₦5.7 billion once all recommendations are applied.
“Despite high revenue allocations, many local governments in Katsina still struggle to pay salaries. Councils such as Kafur, Malumfashi, and Daura carry very heavy wage bills, mostly due to workers who are not genuine,” he stated.
The governor emphasized that reducing this burden will free up more funds to support grassroots development.
“I did this to save the state from the grip of a few. This is how we can have money to work for the general people in our local governments,” Radda said.
The biometric screening was carried out by a 10-member committee comprising four retired permanent secretaries and six directors, with additional support from 16 co-opted members and security personnel.
Veteran journalist and recipient of A.B.C Yola, Reporter of the Year Award (1997), Hassan Umar Shallpella, works with WAP as a Regional Correspondence. He was trained at Institute of Mass Communication and Technology Jos and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Training School Lagos.He was a News desk Editor and a Correspondent at the Punch newspaper and till 2019, was the Deputy Editor ofThe Scope newspaper.
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