Through the introduction of Integration Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), the Federal Government has weeded out 70,000 ghost workers from the Federal Civil Service.

The IPPIS has saved the Federal Government of over N220 billion while the federal personnel have been reduced to 720,000.

The Director-General, Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), Dr. Dasuki Arabi, stated this while appearing at the 43rd Session of the ministerial media briefing organised by the Presidential Media Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Thursday.

Arabi said the government also saved N10 trillion following the introduction of the Single Treasury Account (TSA).

“These are some of the benefits that we think government or Nigerians have benefited out of the work that we have been doing in collaboration with other agencies of government, where they, with the introduction of IPPIS, about 70,000 ghost workers have been eliminated from the payroll.

“We have a one-shot opportunity to look at IPPIS and say, as at today, we have 720,000 public servants working for Nigeria.

“This is a great achievement which I think we need to encode and we need to get it celebrated by all of us.

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“We’ve been able to reduce more than N220 billion wastage through wrong management of IPPIS on payroll by Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government. We have reduced the budget deficits and change the budget composition.

“We have succeeded in getting the TSA deployed in all ministries, departments and agencies of government.

“Challenges have come in that implementation at the initial stage, but we are overcoming that and government is able to save over N10 trillion over the years because whatever you’re generating now goes into a TSA that is managed by somebody else, not you.

“And government, especially at the top is always able to see what has come into our TSA today and what has gone out of that.

“So, planning has been simplified. Budgeting has been simplified.

“Our distribution and allocation of resources have been simplified and streamlined.”

The director-general said as part of the reforms in the service, the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIGMIS) had made government business paperless.

According to him, it has reduced man to man contact and processing, payments in ministries, departments and agencies of government.

The Star