The Osun State Government has dismissed allegations of an annual N13.7 billion payroll fraud, describing the claims by Sally Tibbot Consulting Limited as misleading and driven by an attempt to compel the state to accept what it called 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.
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The statement came in response to a press briefing held earlier on Friday by the audit firm in Lagos to draw public attention to the audit’s findings and alleged refusal of the state government to pay agreed fees.
It accused the administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke of refusing to implement the audit recommendations and failing to pay its contract fees, despite receiving and publicly acknowledging the audit report.
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According to the firm, the verified payroll reduced the state’s monthly wage bill to N3.34 billion, resulting in monthly savings of N1.14 billion and annual savings of N13.72 billion for the Osun State Government.
It added that the failure to implement the report has allowed the continued payment of salaries to thousands of ghost workers, leading to significant losses of public funds in Osun State.
But rejecting the claims, the Osun State Government said Sally Tibbot Consulting had declared 8,448 active workers and 6,713 retirees as unseen, bringing the total number of alleged ghost personnel to 15,161.
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However, it said, a subsequent review by the state confirmed 8,015 active workers and 5,830 retirees as legitimate, leaving only 1,316 individuals whose status could not be verified.
“The State Government further proposed to furnish the company with proof of the existence of each of these workers, if the same is required. However, the company did not at any point in time request for such proof nor send an acceptance letter for payment based on about 1,316 workers who were not seen,” the statement read.
The government said the scale of the discrepancy raised concerns about the methodology adopted by the consultant, especially as many of those listed as ghost workers were never invited for further clarification despite possible reasons such as ill health or temporary absence.
Consultancy and payroll dispute
Osun officials said the disagreement with the firm largely centres on payment terms, noting that the consultant’s fees were tied to a percentage of actual savings realised from the payroll verification exercise.
The state maintained that while it is committed to eliminating ghost workers, it cannot justify removing confirmed employees from the payroll or paying consultancy fees based on unverified or inflated figures.
Following legal correspondence between both parties, the government said it proposed paying the consultant based on the 1,316 confirmed unseen personnel, pending further verification. However, Sally Tibbot Consulting 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.
The government countered that the memorandum of understanding clearly links payment to actual savings, not projected or disputed figures, adding that it is within its rights 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 Sally Tibbot Consulting (Nig.) Ltd attempted to reap where she 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 read.
The state’s re-verification committee ultimately estimated the annual savings from confirmed unseen personnel at N27.07 million,far below the over N1.3 billion earlier claimed by the consultant. Based on this, the committee recommended a consultancy payment of N48.74 million,representing 159 per cent of the verified annual savings, in line with the agreement.
“That the total emolument (gains) to the (Government from the unseen personnel is Twenty-seven Million, Seventy-seven Thousand, Eight Hundred and Forty-Seven Naira, Sixty Kobo (N27,077,847.60) only as opposed to One Billion, Three Hundred and Fifteen Million, Three Hundred and Seventeen Thousand, Six Hundred and Sixty-four Naira, Three Kobo (NI318,3 17,664.03) given by the consulting firm.
“That the Consultant be paid the sum of Forty-eight Million, Seven Hundred and Forty Thousand, One Hundred and Twenty-five Naira, Sixty-eight Kobo (N48,740,125.68) representing 159% of the annual gross salaries and allowances the re-verification enabled the Government to save in one year in line with Section 3(3.1) of the MoU between the State Government and the Consulting firm on the exercise,” the statement read.
Osun authorities said salaries and pensions of the confirmed unseen personnel have been permanently stopped from July 2025, reaffirming the government’s stance that payroll reforms must balance fiscal responsibility with fairness to legitimate workers.
Background
The dispute between the Osun State Government and Sally Tibbot Consulting Limited stems from a staff audit and payroll verification exercise commissioned by the state as part of broader efforts to eliminate ghost workers and reduce recurrent expenditure in the state.
Under the arrangement, the consulting firm was engaged to identify irregularities in the state’s payroll, with its remuneration tied to a percentage of the financial savings realised from the exercise.
Such payroll audits have become common across Nigerian states amid mounting wage bills, shrinking federal allocations and growing pressure to improve fiscal discipline. In August 2025, the Rivers state government said it saved the state over N5 billion after uncovering ghost workers and pensioners in its payroll.
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, a finding that the firm said translated into annual savings running into billions of naira.
READ ALSO:Audit firm alleges N13.7bn annual payroll fraud in Osun, demands payment of verification fees
However, the Osun State Government said the unusually high figures prompted it to conduct a re-verification exercise to avoid the risk of removing genuine employees and pensioners. The government argues that this review significantly reduced the number of unverifiable personnel and, by extension, the amount of savings attributable to the audit.
Sa’adat Bakrin-Ottun, the firm’s Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, through its legal counsel, Jiti Ogunye, at a press briefing on Friday insisted that the firm conducted a thorough and rigorous audit exercise.
Ms Bakrin-Ottun insisted that the Osun state government’s stance that the firm exaggerated the number of ghost workers and pensioners in order to increase its contract payment is malicious and defamatory.
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