By Peter Duru

MAKURDI—Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has blamed the high wage bill of the state, put at around N7.8 billion monthly, on a cartel.

Gov Samuel Ortom

Ortom, who spoke, weekend, in Gbajimba, Guma Local Government Area, said the discovery was made after a verification committee set up by the government uncovered a N1.4 billion salary fraud perpetrated through ghost workers.

He said his administration was tackling the challenge with a view to checking all revenue leakages in the state.

Governor Ortom said: “We have noticed that there is a cartel that is responsible for the over-bloated wage bill in the state. We have set up various committees and they are working.

“One tenth of the work force was screened, using the last payment chat and it was discovered that within a period of one year and three months, N1.4 billion was siphoned through ghost workers. Retirees still had their names in the payroll.

“I believe having a wage bill at the local government level of N3.7 billion is a big challenge. Add the N4.2 billion bill at the state level, you are talking of about N7.9 billion.

“For a state such as ours, it is quite unacceptable.”