EFCC operatives

An Abuja couple has been found to be at the centre of the multi-billion racket of  padding the Federal Government  payroll with phantom workers.

Dayo  Aliyu Usman and Ronke Usman, who work  at the office of  the Accountant-General of the Federation, were said to have exploited the gaps in the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS).

The application of the biometric verification number, BVN exposed their scam.

The arrest of the couple unlocked the doors to reaching other members of the gang, the EFCC said.Nine of them have been arrested, as investigation continues.

Another suspected member of the syndicate, Bede Anyanwu, an Accountant with the Federal Ministry of Environment, was quizzed and released on administrative bail.

The EFCC received a formal complaint from the  Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, on the huge number of ghost workers.

Nigeria was believed to have lost more than N2 billion monthly to the syndicate at the time the Minister contacted the anti-graft agency.

It was gathered that the alleged involvement of the couple in the IPPIS shocked EFCC investigators.

“At the time Dayo was arrested by the EFCC, he was raking in a monthly heist of N6.1million through remittance by his agents.

“He had an arrangement in which his agents, some of them civil servants, would collect the money (from ghost staff) and remit 40 per cent of the proceeds to him.

Source: The Nation