Nigeria's finance ministry says it has saved the cash poor government millions of dollars by removing more than 20,000 "ghost workers" from the payrolls.
The ministry said Sunday that 23,846 non-existent workers were removed from the government payroll after an audit, saving $11.5 million a month.
Corruption and mismanagement have long stunted development in Africa's biggest economy and top oil producer, and are now exacerbating the impact of a sharp fall in global crude prices.
Since President Muhammadu Buhari took office last year vowing a crackdown on graft, the government has been working to cut the costs of running the government rather than slash jobs to help tackle Nigeria’s worst economic crisis in years.