The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has moved to fish out ghost workers from the Sokoto State civil service. NLC Chairman Abdullahi Aliyu said a verification committee would scrutinize all civil servants in the state to identify the genuine ones.

The chairman said the NLC would ensure that only genuine and duly employed individuals benefit from the new wage increase.

He expressed concern over reports of ghost workers, fraudulent employment, and other inefficiencies in the civil service. Aliyu said:

“We come to a point where a married woman from a neighbouring state, medical doctors working in other states, some even from overseas and teachers presented themselves for the verification.

“We are all out to sanitise the system. We will flush out all unscrupulous elements out of the state payrolls.

“This is with a view to ensuring that only genuine civil servants benefit from the new minimum wage which the state had since commence payment.”

He added: “We cannot continue to overlook the critical importance of having a verified and accountable workforce in the civil service.”