By John Dike, Osogbo
Osun State public servants declared as ghost workers by Sally Tibbot Limited have resolved to drag the consulting firm and its lead consultant to court over what they described as defamation and career-damaging allegations spanning decades of public service.
The affected workers, drawn from multiple ministries, departments, agencies, and tertiary institutions, said the consultant’s claims amounted to character assassination, insisting they are legitimate employees who duly participate in the state’s verification and audit exercise.
In separate petitions and communications to Osun State Government, the workers expressed outrage that the company continued to brand them as ghost workers despite their physical appearance for verification, biometric capture, and willingness to present verifiable employment records.
Their reaction followed a media briefing by Sally Tibbot Limited, where the firm accused the state government of allegedly harbouring and shielding ghost workers by refusing to implement its staff audit report.
The workers faulted the consultant for what they described as a deeply flawed and poorly managed audit process, alleging maltreatment of workers, inhuman treatment of senior civil servants, and refusal to decentralise the verification exercise.
They accused the firm of approaching the contract with an ulterior motive to defraud the state and tarnish the image of the government.
Those affected reportedly include the Vice-Chancellor of Osun State University, staff of state-owned polytechnics, professors, deans, provosts, and senior officers across more than ten government agencies and tertiary institutions who were allegedly excluded from the audit exercise but later classified as ghost workers.
It was further alleged that the consultant went as far as declaring the Governor, Deputy Governor, Secretary to the State Government, and over two-thirds of political appointees in the state as ghost workers, an action the workers described as absurd and indicative of systemic failure in the audit process.
Meanwhile, the state government has dismissed allegations of a cover-up, describing the consultant’s media outing as a subtle attempt at blackmail aimed at forcing the acceptance of a controversial and unreliable audit report.
According to the government, the unusually high number of alleged ghost workers listed by the consultant necessitated a re-verification exercise, which reportedly exposed significant inflation in the figures and confirmed that many of those labelled ghost workers were bonafide employees of the state.
The government stated that it was prepared to furnish the consultant with documentary proof of the affected workers’ legitimacy if requested. However, it noted that the company neither sought such verification nor submitted an acceptance letter for payment in respect of about 1,316 workers reportedly not seen.
The state further expressed concern that the consultant’s remuneration was tied to the amount of payroll savings generated, suggesting that the inflated ghost worker figures may have been driven by financial incentives, compounded by alleged exclusion of workers, high-handed conduct, and deliberate maltreatment during the audit exercise.
Reaffirming its commitment to sanitising the state payroll, the government said it could not, in good conscience, remove genuine workers or implement an audit report riddled with verifiable gaps, procedural lapses, and unresolved disputes.
The government maintained that it is within its constitutional right to review any audit report before implementation, explaining that the establishment of a verification committee was a necessary step toward ensuring transparency, fairness, and protection of legitimate workers.
