A Lagos-based forensic audit firm, Sally Tibbot Consulting Limited, has accused the Osun State Government of failing to implement a forensic audit report that allegedly exposed payroll fraud amounting to N13.7 billion annually, while also refusing to pay agreed professional fees for the assignment.
The firm made the allegations on Friday during a press briefing in Lagos, addressed by its legal representative, Jiti Ogunye. According to him, Sally Tibbot was engaged by the Osun State Government to conduct a comprehensive payroll verification and forensic audit, the outcome of which was formally submitted to the administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke.
Presenting details of the findings, Ogunye said the state’s payroll as of January 2023 listed 37,456 active workers and 17,918 pensioners, with a combined monthly wage bill of N4.48 billion.
However, the forensic audit allegedly established that only 29,004 staff members and the same 17,918 pensioners were genuine, leaving 8,452 workers classified as ghost employees with no valid employment records.
Based on the verified figures, the firm said Osun State’s legitimate monthly wage bill stood at N3.34 billion, translating to monthly savings of N1.14 billion and annual savings of N13.72 billion if the report were fully implemented.
Sally Tibbot said it submitted its final audit report and invoice to Governor Adeleke on June 27, 2024, and later publicly presented the findings at a government-organised event in Osogbo on July 10, 2024.
Despite this, the firm alleged that the recommendations have neither been implemented nor has payment been made for the completed contract.
“The continued refusal to act on the report has enabled the persistent payment of salaries to thousands of ghost workers, resulting in massive and avoidable losses of public funds,” Ogunye said.
Dispute over findings
The firm rejected claims by the Osun State Government that a post-audit re-verification exercise showed most of the workers flagged as ghost employees were, in fact, active staff or retirees. It described the government’s explanation as false, contractually baseless, and a belated attempt to discredit the audit.
According to the company, the audit contract did not provide for any post-submission re-verification exercise, arguing that the state lacked the technical capacity to independently conduct a credible forensic audit, an inadequacy that necessitated the firm’s engagement in the first place.
Sally Tibbot also alleged that although the governor set up an implementation committee chaired by the Chief of Staff, Hon. Kazeem Akinleye, the panel took no concrete steps toward enforcing the audit recommendations.
The firm further claimed that its management faced security threats during and after the audit exercise, which it attributed to vested interests affected by the exposure of entrenched payroll fraud within the state’s civil service system.
Calls for intervention
At the briefing, Sally Tibbot demanded the immediate implementation of its audit recommendations and the payment of its outstanding professional fees in line with the contract agreement.
The firm also called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission ICPC) to launch independent investigations into the alleged payroll fraud and what it described as a coordinated effort to suppress the audit findings.
Beyond its contractual claims, the company said the matter raised serious concerns about accountability and public finance management in Osun State, warning that continued non-implementation of the report would amount to a grave abuse of public trust.
How the audit was conducted
Sally Tibbot said it was formally engaged by the Osun State Government in April 2023 following a proposal submitted in January of that year.
A contract agreement was executed on May 22, 2023, mandating the firm to carry out physical staff verification, biometric data capture, payroll validation, and the development of an Automated Payroll Administration System.
According to the firm, the exercise covered civil servants, local government workers, education sector employees, tertiary institutions, and pensioners. It said 125 personnel were deployed across the state for physical verification over a six-month fieldwork period, followed by data validation and system development.
The entire project, which lasted about twelve months, reportedly cost the firm more than N600 million.
Sally Tibbot insisted it would not retract its findings or succumb to intimidation, maintaining that the audit was conducted professionally and in line with global best practices.