Borno govt uncovers 21 nurses, other health workers with fake certificates

Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno has directed the sanctioning of 21 health workers due to forgery of certificates, following a staff verification exercise.

This was contained in a statement issued on Monday in Maiduguri by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Communication and Strategy, Mallam Isa Gusau, who confirmed that the verification also uncovered 91 ghost staff and N23 million being wrongly spent monthly.

Chairman of the committee, Dr. Joseph Jatau revealed this on Monday, in Maiduguri, while presenting the committee’s report to Gov. Zulum at the governor’s office annex at the Musa Usman secretariat.

Dr Jatau explained that among those with fake certificates were nurses, other medical and support staff.

The chairman also disclosed that 91 ghost workers were discovered in the lists of health workers in the state, who had either resigned or withdrawn from service, but their salaries were still being paid in their names.

Similarly, the committee found that some dead, retired, and absconded staff were being consistently promoted, with salaries also paid in their names, Gusau said.

He explained that the committee made 13 recommendations that would help reposition the health sector for optimal healthcare service delivery in the state.

“Anyone that fakes certificates in nursing and other medical courses is capable of killing people.

Only God knows how many people they might have harmed or even killed. Honestly, we shouldn’t let this go, we should ensure appropriate actions are served to the culprits.

“I cannot be lenient on matters involving life and death. Importantly also, we have to employ measures to avert future occurrences”, Zulum said as he received the committee’s report.