The Imo State government has fished out 1,000 ghost workers in its public service.
Briefing journalists after rising from a meeting between Governor Hope Uzodinma and heads of ministries, departments and agencies at the weekend in Owerri, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Declan Emelumba, conveyed the annoyance of the governor, warning that his administration would not take it kindly with the perpetrators.
According to Emelumba, the fraud was committed through double entry and fictitious names and Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs) of workers in the payroll.
The development, he added, made the state government to lose huge amount to fraudsters within the system.
Also speaking, the Commissioner for Finance, Chuck Chukwuemeka, who disclosed that about N1 billion had been lost to the scammers, directed that the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy be internalised, urging the workers to embrace the Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Recovery (3Rs) mantra of the governor.