A payroll verification exercise in Bauchi State has exposed more than 100 ghost workers in the health sector, prompting the government to promise stiff sanctions against those responsible.
The Executive Chairman of the Bauchi State Hospital Management Board, Sambo Alkali, made the disclosure during a press briefing on Thursday. He said the findings were part of an ongoing payroll audit designed to clean up the system and ensure that salaries go only to genuine workers.
According to Alkali, the ghost workers were uncovered in just five health facilities during the initial phase of the exercise, raising concerns that the problem could be more widespread across the state. He said the names of those identified would be forwarded to Governor Bala Mohammed for disciplinary action in line with civil service rules.
“We are determined to end the era where scarce public funds are siphoned through ghost workers. The governor has directed us to fish out all such cases and take decisive action,” Alkali said.
He explained that the payroll verification was also tied to wider reforms in the sector aimed at addressing manpower shortages. To tackle this, the state has introduced a new recruitment scheme, which has already brought on board more than 40 doctors, from consultants to medical officers, strategically deployed based on data-driven needs assessments.
“This is not just recruitment; it’s a scientific pull system that ensures doctors are evenly distributed across facilities. They also supervise service delivery to raise standards of care,” Alkali noted.
He added that Governor Mohammed has directed a comprehensive gap analysis of hospitals and health centers, with the goal of improving efficiency and addressing service delivery challenges.
Another major reform, according to Alkali, is a new healthcare scheme of service under development. The scheme aims to harmonize the salaries of Bauchi State health workers with those paid by the federal government, in order to attract and retain highly skilled professionals.
“We cannot ignore the salary gap. If we want to keep our best doctors and specialists, we must offer competitive conditions,” he stressed.
Also speaking, the state’s Commissioner for Health, Muhammed Dambam, said the government was expanding its collaboration with development partners and agencies to set up a local production plant for Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF).
The intervention, he explained, would be crucial in tackling malnutrition, which remains a major challenge in parts of Bauchi State.
Dambam reaffirmed the governor’s commitment to reforming the health sector, saying the administration was determined to “block leakages, strengthen accountability, and deliver quality healthcare services to the people of Bauchi”.
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