Zulum orders sanction on 21 health workers for forgery

Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, has directed the sanctioning of 21 health workers found with fake certificates during staff verification exercise.

According to him, the health personnel verification committee also uncovered 91 ghost workers costing the state N23 million monthly in salaries.

While submitting the report on Monday at the Musa Usman Secretariat, Maiduguri; the Committee Chairman, Dr. Joseph Jatau, disclosed that the health workers were found with fake certificates.

He said the workers that faked their certificates include nurses and support staff.

“During our workers’ verification exercise, we uncovered 91 ghost workers in the list of health workers in the state,” noting that the workers had either registered or withdrawn from services.

He lamented that their monthly salaries of about N23 million were still being paid into their bank accounts.

“Similarly, the committee found that the ghost workers are either dead or retired,” while the absconded staff were being consistently promoted, with salaries also paid in their names.

The committee made 13 recommendations that would help reposition the health sector for optimal healthcare service delivery.

In his response, Zulum said: “Anyone that fakes certificates in nursing and other medical courses is capable of killing people,” lamenting that only God knows how many people they might have harmed or killed.

“We shouldn’t let this go; we should ensure appropriate actions against the culprits by employing measures that could avert future occurrences.”