About 300 ghost workers have been uncovered in the 27 local government areas of Imo State, Permanent Secretary of the Local Government Service Commission, Mrs. Rosemary Izuogu, said yesterday.
Izuogu said this accounts for why over 100 workers have refused to leave their departments after five years, as directed by the House of Assembly.
The permanent secretary said she was recalled from retirement to sanitise the local government system, adding that most of the workers falsified their documents to get promotion.
“The system is so messed up that some workers have resulted to using diabolical means to remain in one council for many years,” she added.
Though her postings followed a directive of Governor Hope Uzodimma that the commission be reshuffled in line with set out guidelines for effective sanitisation, Izuogu has also been accused of indiscriminate postings.
Some workers said her postings left some councils with grade level 8 officers to become department heads while some with higher grades were muddled up to fight over leadership.
But Izuogu said those behind the allegation are the same people who had overstayed in their councils.
She said: “They are only trying to tarnish my integrity. Everybody knows I’m God fearing and would never do such. It was even a difficult task finding where to fix over 1,200 workers who have been in one place for long. We have even discovered most of the names here do not exist, some of them are long dead.”
