In an effort to ensure transparency and efficiency in the Nigerian civil service, the federal government has suspended the salaries of 686 civil servants over unverified records on the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS).
The move was part of ongoing efforts to streamline the country’s payroll system and eliminate ghost workers.
The Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, disclosed this in a statement signed by the director of Communication for the office of the Head of Service of the Federation, Mohammed Ahmed, on Wednesday.
Recall that out of the 59,201 civil servants who participated fully in the verification exercise earlier in the year, 11,447 officers had discrepancies in their records.
However, Yemi-Esan ordered for the verification portal to be reopened and invitation was also extended for verification exercise from October 16 to 27, 2023 for the 11,447 civil servants whose salaries were suspended to update their records online, which out of the 11,447, only 10,761 officers participated in the physical verification exercise and the 686 did not attend.
The statement read in parts: “The records of 59,201 Civil Servants, who participated fully in the verification exercise and had no discrepancies in their records were forwarded to the Office of the accountant general of the Federation for continuous payment of their salaries. However, salaries of 11,447 officers, whose records were not verified, were suspended.
“On account of the suspension, the verification portal was reopened for these officers to enable them update their records online. Thereafter, they were invited for verification exercise from 16th – 27th October, 2023.
“A total number of 10,761 officers participated in the physical verification exercise. After the verification exercise, the review of verified records was carried out, in phases, to ensure that only credible records were on the IPPIS platform.
“The names of officers with cleared records were sent to the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation immediately they were cleared as follows: i. September, 2023 – 818 officers, ii. October, 2023 – 650 officers,
iii. November, 2023 -6857 officers, iv. December, 2023 – 1407 officers and v. Total number of officers cleared – 9,732 officers.
“Some of these officers have received their salaries to date, while others will be paid in the month of December with all the arrears. Files of 1,029 officers, who have discrepancies in their records are still being expected from their MDAs to enable the office to authenticate their records after which their salaries will be restored.
“It should be noted that about 686 officers, whose salaries were suspended, did not show up for the verification exercise and their salaries remain suspended on the IPPIS platform.”