The Osun State Government has firmly rejected allegations of an annual N13.7 billion payroll fraud, describing claims by Sally Tibbot Consulting Limited as misleading and driven by an attempt to pressure the state into accepting what it termed an inflated audit report.
In a statement issued on Friday by the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, the government said a re-verification exercise conducted after receiving the consultant’s report uncovered major discrepancies in the figures presented as ghost workers and retirees.
The response followed a press briefing by the consulting firm in Lagos, where it accused the administration of Ademola Adeleke of refusing to implement the audit’s recommendations and failing to pay agreed consultancy fees, despite acknowledging receipt of the report.
Sally Tibbot Consulting claimed that its verification exercise reduced Osun State’s monthly wage bill to N3.34 billion, yielding monthly savings of N1.14 billion and annual savings of N13.72 billion. The firm further alleged that the government’s failure to act on the report had allowed salaries to continue being paid to thousands of ghost workers, resulting in massive losses of public funds.
However, the Osun State Government said the consultant had declared 8,448 active workers and 6,713 retirees as “unseen,” putting the total number of alleged ghost personnel at 15,161.
According to the state, a subsequent internal review confirmed 8,015 active workers and 5,830 retirees as legitimate staff and pensioners, leaving only 1,316 individuals whose status could not be immediately verified.
“The State Government further proposed to furnish the company with proof of the existence of each of these workers, if required,” the statement said, adding that the firm neither requested such proof nor issued an acceptance letter to be paid based on the reduced figure of 1,316.
Osun authorities said the scale of the discrepancy raised serious concerns about the methodology adopted by the consultant, particularly as many of those listed as ghost workers were never invited for clarification, despite possible explanations such as ill health, travel, or temporary absence during the verification exercise.
Consultancy and payroll dispute
The government explained that the dispute largely centres on payment terms, stressing that the consultancy agreement tied the firm’s fees to a percentage of actual savings realised from the payroll verification exercise.
While reaffirming its commitment to eliminating ghost workers, the state said it could not justify removing confirmed employees from the payroll or paying consultancy fees based on unverified or disputed figures.
Following exchanges of legal correspondence, the government said it proposed paying Sally Tibbot Consulting based on the 1,316 confirmed unseen personnel, pending further verification. The firm, however, insisted on being paid based on the initial figure of 15,161, arguing that the agreement did not provide for a re-verification by the state.
Rejecting this position, the Osun State Government said the memorandum of understanding clearly links payment to actual, verifiable savings rather than projected or contested figures, adding that it reserves the right to review any audit report before implementation.
“The implication of this is that the percentage claim payable to Sally Tibbot Consulting (Nig.) Ltd reduced drastically by virtue of the fact that the said firm attempted to reap where it did not sow by inflating the number of ghost workers/retirees to 15,161 when in actual fact, the unseen workers/retirees are about 1,316,” the statement said.
According to the government, its re-verification committee estimated the annual savings from confirmed unseen personnel at N27.07 million, far below the over N1.3 billion earlier claimed by the consultant. On this basis, the committee recommended a consultancy payment of N48.74 million, representing 159 per cent of the verified annual savings, in line with the terms of the agreement.
The government also disclosed that salaries and pensions of the confirmed unseen personnel have been permanently stopped from July 2025, insisting that payroll reforms must be guided by fiscal responsibility while protecting legitimate workers and pensioners from wrongful exclusion.
Background
The dispute arose from a staff audit and payroll verification exercise commissioned by the Osun State Government as part of broader efforts to curb ghost workers and reduce recurrent expenditure.
Under the arrangement, the consultant’s remuneration was tied to a percentage of the financial savings realised from the exercise.
Payroll audits have become increasingly common across Nigerian states amid rising wage bills and growing pressure on subnational governments to improve fiscal discipline.
Sally Tibbot Consulting later submitted a report claiming that more than 15,000 workers and retirees on the Osun payroll could not be physically verified, translating, according to the firm, into annual savings running into billions of naira.
However, Osun authorities said the unusually high figures prompted a re-verification exercise to avoid the risk of removing genuine employees and pensioners, a review the government insists significantly reduced both the number of unverifiable personnel and the level of savings attributable to the audit.
At the Lagos briefing, the firm’s Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Sa’adat Bakrin-Ottun, through its legal counsel, Jiti Ogunye, maintained that the audit was thorough and rigorous, dismissing claims of inflation as malicious and defamatory.