The Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum has directed the sanctioning of 21 health workers found with fake certificates during staff verification exercise. According to him, the health personnel verification committee; also uncovered 91 ghost workers with a monthly salary bill of N23 million. While submitting the report Monday at the Musa Usman secretariat complex, Maiduguri; the Committee Chairman, Dr. Joseph Jatau disclosed that the health workers were found with fake certificates along with the payments of N23 million monthly salaries to 91 ghost workers. He said that the health workers that faked their certificates include nurses and other medical and supporting staff. “During our workers’ verification exercise, we uncovered 91 ghost workers in the list of health workers in the state,” he said. He noted that the ghost workers had either registered or withdrawn from services. He lamented that their monthly salaries were still being paid into their bank accounts to the tune of N23 million. Continuing, he added: “Similarly, the committee found that the ghost workers are either dead or retired,” while the absconded staff were being consistently promoted, with salaries also paid in their names. The committee made 13 recommendations that would help reposition the health sector for optimal healthcare service delivery. In his response, Governor Zulum, said: “Anyone that fakes certificates in nursing and other medical courses is capable of killing people,” lamenting that only God knows how many people they might have harmed or killed. “We shouldn’t let this go, we should ensure appropriate actions against the culprits,” he said; by employing measures that could avert future occurrences
