Governor Bello Mohammed Matawalle of Zamfara State has lamented that there are about 169 ghost doctors receiving monthly salaries and allowances.
The Governor disclosed this to newsmen in his country home in Maradun town of Maradun Local Government Area of the State, saying the ghost doctors have been causing the delay in the payment of the health workers’ salaries and allowances.
According to him, his government had been having series of meetings with the Labour leaders in the State with regard to flushing out ghost doctors and nurses in the health sector.
He assured that his administration had no plan to retrench any genuine civil servant in the State following the implementation of the N30,000 minimum wage.
Fielding questions from journalists on Friday, the Governor said that series of meetings have been going on between his government and the Labour leaders on productivity.
According to him, he expects the civil servants in the State to always justify their salaries and allowances.
“I was once a civil servant and I know the pains if my salary and allowances were not paid”, he added.
He further stated that huge amount of resources were being paid in the name of salaries and allowances to the civil servants out of the little monthly allocation to the State from the federation account.
The Governor, however, commended the Labour leaders in the State for approaching the issue of the N30,000 minimum wage with maturity and professionalism, pointing out that since he came on board in 2019, there has been no rancour between the government and the organized Labour.
