A forensic audit firm, Sally Tibbott Consulting Limited, has accused the Osun State Government of attempting to cover up a ₦13.7 billion annual payroll fraud uncovered in its audit of the state’s civil and public service payroll system.
At a press briefing in Lagos on Friday, the firm’s solicitor, Jiti Ogunye, said the company was engaged in April 2023 to verify and re-engineer the payroll covering civil servants, local government workers, pensioners, SUBEB, TESCOM, and state-owned tertiary institutions.
CEO Sa’adat Bakrin-Ottun revealed that the audit identified 8,452 ghost workers fraudulently included in the payroll. Prior to verification, Osun’s monthly payroll stood at ₦4.48 billion for 37,456 staff and 17,918 pensioners. After the audit, the genuine payroll was reduced to ₦3.34 billion, reflecting 29,004 staff and 17,918 pensioners—a monthly savings of ₦1.14 billion and an annual saving of ₦13.72 billion.
The firm alleged it spent over ₦600 million on the exercise, deploying 130 staff over 12 months, but has yet to receive payment despite submitting its final report and invoice to Governor Ademola Adeleke in June 2024. It also accused the government of conducting a “phony re-verification exercise” to discredit its findings.
While the state government reportedly claimed most alleged ghost workers were legitimate staff or retirees, leaving only 1,316 untraceable, Sally Tibbott Consulting dismissed the claim as “false, misleading and defamatory.”
The firm called on the EFCC and ICPC to investigate, warning that attempts to discredit the audit could amount to a cover-up. “Our integrity is on the line, and so is the future of public funds in Osun State. The people deserve accountability and transparency,” the company said.
As of press time, the Osun State Government had not issued an official response.
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