Anambra uncovers ‘210 ghost workers’, sacks six deputy directors for ‘fake certificates’

The Anambra local government service commission has sacked six deputy directors for “possessing fake certificates”.

Vincent Ezeaka, chairman of the commission, said it also uncovered 210 suspected ghost workers in the system.

He said the affected deputy directors claimed to be products of Imo State University, adding that investigators are expecting more responses from other universities across the country.

Ezeaka said the move is part of the commission’s quest to foster professionalism and stop all forms of corruption in the LG system.

“As for the ghost workers, who cut across the 21 local government areas of the state, we have removed them from the workers’ payroll,” he said.

“The discoveries were made possible through a dedicated back-to-back personnel audit and the deployment of staff biometrics identification and verification, using a state-of-the-art clock-in-clock-out digital attendance register.”

Ezeaka added that the discovery brought to the fore the numerical strength of the physical staff in the unified local government system of the state.

He said certificate screening would become a continuous exercise within the commission. 

“Having completed the screening of Grade Levels 15 and 16, the certificate screening of Grade Level 14 and below shall commence in earnest,” he said.

“This is all aimed at flushing out fraudsters and all forms of certificate racketeering in the local government system.”