The Personnel Audit and Skills Gap Analysis (PASGA), which has reached a critical “mop-up” phase this weekend. Following a high-level review on Tuesday, April 14, and continuing through the weekend, the Federal Government has moved from data collection to enforcement. The government officially closed the window for physical verification and online skills assessment at the end of February.
The Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) is finalizing the list of non-compliant officers. Salaries for unverified workers are being stopped effective this pay cycle (April 2026).
The audit specifically identified thousands of individuals who have relocated abroad (the
“Japa” syndrome) but remained on the federal payroll, as well as retired or deceased personnel whose names were never removed from the nominal roll.
On Tuesday, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Aviation, Mahmud Adam Kambari, held a review session with PASGA consultants. This is part of a broader mandate for all MDAs to “clean” their payrolls before the full implementation of the 2026 Budget, which the President signed yesterday.
Consultants have recommended a final “re-verification” for a small subset of staff who had technical issues with the portal, but for the majority, the “unverified” status is now being treated as a resignation or fraudulent entry.
Beyond just catching ghost workers, the audit is being used to reassign staff. The government’s goal is to ensure that civil servants are placed in roles that match their actual competencies, particularly as they move toward more digitalized internal workflows (the ECMS system).
By removing these unverified names, the government expects to save billions of Naira monthly. This is crucial because the 2026 Budget signed this weekend has a massive ₦15.4 trillion allocation for recurrent expenditure (salaries and overheads), and the administration is under pressure to ensure that every Naira goes to an active, productive worker.
If a civil servant didn’t show up for their physical audit or finish their online assessment by now, their paycheck is likely hitting a brick wall this Monday.
