CALABAR, CROSS RIVER– The Cross River State Government and the state chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) clashed on Monday over the supposed discovery of over 4,000 ghost employees and deep payroll irregularities within the city government system.
The heated conflict broke out during an emergency stakeholders’ meeting in Calabar. The session was called by the Commissioner for City Government Affairs, Chief Victor-Felix Idem, to address an earlier protest by the NUT concerning unsettled salaries and stalled promotions for primary school instructors.
BVN Audit Uncovers Massive Appointee and Teacher Scams
Commissioner Idem exposed that the state federal government exposed widespread payroll fraud after launching a confirmation exercise using the Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs) submitted by workers.
According to the Commissioner, the audit flagged over 2,000 teachers under the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and countless local government employees for submitting invalid, fake, or suspicious BVNs.
He explained that some BVNs were linked to entirely different people or several names on the payroll, confirming the operation of syndicated ghost employees.
Chief Victor-Felix Idem specified: “We found 1,200 phony BVNs in the LG councils, 526 in the primary health centres, 643 political appointees, and 2,000 in the State Universal Basic Education Board.
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The confirmation is intended simply at sanitising the payroll and ensuring only genuine workers receive state funds. We are not paying half-salaries; payments are dealt with straight by councils, and I challenge the NUT to produce payslips showing otherwise.”
NUT Demands Payment, Backs Verification
Reacting to the heavy accusations, the Cross River NUT Chairman, Pal Gregory Olayi, defended the instructors but revealed major concern over the prolonged financial distress of his members.
Olayi countered that numerous authentic teachers had not received a penny given that September 2025, regardless of fully adhering to the federal government’s previous directives to send their BVN and biometric documents.
While he admitted that the union supports any audit implied to eliminate ghost employees and safeguard public funds, he warned that the absence of clear interaction from the ministry was punishing innocent educators.
Joining the panel, the Auditor-General for Local Governments, Mr Bassey Eko, explained that a recent monetary review revealed that lots of current promotions were implemented without correct financial clearance or financial implication assessments.
To fix the inconsistency, Eko announced that SUBEB has been provided a rigorous due date to send extensive, confirmed records of all authorized promos.
He cautioned that failure to provide these documents would leave the state with no choice however to right away suspend income payments to the unproven staff to prevent more bleeding of public funds.
The meeting concluded with a shaky truce. The NUT Chairman accepted go back to the ministry in the coming days with hard copy bank declarations, work letters, and biometrics to clear authentic instructors captured in the automated sweep, while urging the government to pay cleared employees instantly.