Audit report uncovers alleged N13.7bn yearly payroll fraud in Osun
An audit firm, Salivot Consulting Limited, has alleged that it uncovered a massive N13.7 billion annual payroll fraud in Osun State involving thousands of ghost workers and pensioners.
The firm’s Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Sadat Bakrin-Ottun, disclosed on Thursday during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Tonight that a 12-month forensic review estimated the state was losing about N13.7 billion yearly to non-existent employees and fraudulent payroll practices.
According to her, the audit — reportedly commissioned by the administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke to sanitise the state’s workforce — identified 8,452 workers and 5,831 pensioners who failed to present themselves for physical and biometric verification.
She described some of the findings as alarming, alleging that a single bank account linked to one Bank Verification Number (BVN) was receiving 962 separate salaries each month. Another account, she claimed, was found to be collecting 5,615 monthly salaries.
However, the Osun State Government has strongly rejected the claims, accusing the consulting firm of professional misconduct and inflating figures in order to claim higher commissions under a “no savings, no pay” contract arrangement.
State officials insisted that only 1,316 workers remain unverified, maintaining that several of those flagged by the firm were legitimate employees whom the government declined to remove from the payroll.
Bakrin-Ottun dismissed the allegations against her firm, stating that the audit process was credible and backed by biometric data. She alleged that although Governor Adeleke initially supported the exercise, its implementation stalled after the report was submitted in July 2024.
The firm’s legal counsel, J.T.O. Uwazuruike, said the matter had gone beyond a contractual dispute over unpaid fees, adding that the consultants intend to petition the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate those allegedly responsible for siphoning billions of naira from the state’s treasury.
