Kano State Government yesterday said it had uncovered irregularities on its payroll involving 240 employees receiving double payments and 217 others having the same Bank Verification Number (BVN).

Special Adviser to the Governor on Civil Service Matters and Chairman of the State Coordinating Committee, Dr Sulaiman Sani, disclosed this at a press briefing in Kano.

Sani, who represented the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Umar Ibrahim, said the findings emerged from a biometric verification exercise was aimed at sanitising the state’s civil service.

According to him, the anomalies were discovered during reviews conducted by two standing committees; one for the state and another for local government payrolls. He added: “The inherited shortcomings in the payroll system have continued to disturb the government.

“We discovered that 240 employees are drawing double salaries, while 217 individuals share the same BVN.” He also revealed that 1,335 employees had not reported for verification for over six months, further raising concerns about the authenticity of many names on the payroll.

In his remarks, the Chairman of the Local Payroll Government Standing Committee, Alhaji Umar Idi, said an audit exercise uncovered 247 questionable names on the local government and primary healthcare payrolls. Idi explained that only eight out of the 247 individuals appeared before the committee to confirm their employment status.

“The removal of the remaining 239 names has resulted in a monthly saving of N27.8 million, which will be returned to the state and local governments’ joint account,” he said.

Sani assured that the ongoing exercise was not punitive but it was intended to ensure that genuine workers and pensioners received their full entitlements without arbitrary deductions.

He recalled that since the assumption of office of Gov. Abba Yusuf,his administration had prioritised the prompt payment of salaries and haf eliminated informal deductions from workers’ wages.