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LAGOS. — Authorities in Nigeria on Tuesday said they had detected 37 395 ghost workers on the payroll of the country’s federal civil service.

Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Ibrahim Magu, announced the figure at an anti-corruption sensitization program.

Mr Magu said apart from the widespread procurement fraud in ministries, departments and agencies, the issue of ghost workers was a source of serious concern for the commission.

He said current investigations by the EFCC had revealed that the Federal Government lost over $5 million to ghost workers recently.

“The figure will definitely increase as we unravel more ghost workers buried deep in the federal civil service payrolls,” he said. Mr Magu added that the commission had established a procurement fraud unit to handle the increasing number of petitions relating to violations of the public procurement laws.

He advised civil servants to avoid any acts in breach of public procurement, warning that violators risked terms of imprisonment and dismissal from service. The chairman said the commission intended to place suggestion boxes at designated places for people to drop petitions and reports of corrupt practices to assist it in the fight against corruption. — Xinhua.