No fewer than 596 dead civil servants in Bauchi State are still on the government’s payroll collecting salaries and allowances for a number of years, a government panel has discovered.

The state government had earlier claimed that over 41,448 are on the government’s payroll without the compulsory Bank Verification Numbers.

The Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, therefore, set up a 17-member panel to unravel the circumstances surrounding the situation.

The panel’s Chairman, Adamu Gumba, addressed journalists at a press conference on the outcome of its screening exercise on Monday.