Kano on Fire: Over ₦28 Million Illegally Paid to 247 Deceased and Retired Workers!

The Kano State Government has uncovered fraudulent salary payments totaling ₦28 million made to 247 deceased and retired workers.

According to reports, the Press Secretary to the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Musa Tanko Muhammad, disclosed in a statement on Saturday that the irregularity was discovered during a validation exercise on the March 2025 salary payroll system.

Muhammad explained that the payroll of Local Government Councils revealed a troubling anomaly: 247 individuals who had either retired or passed away were still listed on the payroll and receiving salaries.

The government reaffirmed its commitment to cleaning up the payroll system and vowed that those involved in the fraudulent activity would be identified and prosecuted according to the law.

The statement read:
“In a decisive step towards sanitizing the State’s payroll, the administration of Governor Abba Yusuf has achieved a major breakthrough in its ongoing efforts to reform salary management across the civil service.
As part of the reform agenda, a Pay Parade Committee was constituted and will soon commence full operations. In preparation, the Committee printed the March 2025 payroll vouchers and asked all Ministries, Departments, Agencies (MDAs), and Local Government Councils to review and report their observations. This preliminary review revealed a disturbing discovery: 247 individuals, either retired or deceased, continued to appear on the payroll, resulting in fraudulent salary payments totaling ₦27,824,395.40 for March 2025 alone.
In swift response, and while further investigations are ongoing to fully expose the depth of the fraud and identify the perpetrators, the misappropriated funds have been recovered and returned to the Local Government Treasury.
This significant recovery highlights the administration’s firm resolve to promote transparency, accountability, and good governance.”