By Adesakin Adefemi
The Osun State University (UNIOSUN) has publicly condemned a 2023 staff audit conducted by Sally Tibbot Consult, which falsely classified 250 of its employees including Vice‑Chancellor Professor Odunayo Clement Adebooye as “ghost workers.” At a press conference held Saturday in the Vice‑Chancellor’s office, Professor Adebooye described the report as “unprofessional, fraudulent and misleading,” and called for an immediate formal apology to the institution and the affected staff.
According to the university’s statement, the audit took place in May/June 2023, with all 1,017 staff scheduled for verification on a single day, 18 August 2023, at the State Secretariat.
The exercise was hampered by inadequate and untrained personnel, forcing professors and other staff to queue under the scorching sun for hours. “The consultant’s team was grossly insufficient and unskilled to handle such a crowd,” Adebooye said, noting that the process was marred by “unprecedented arrogance, indiscipline, and repulsive behavior” from Sally Tibbot’s representatives.
One of the most egregious incidents, the VC recounted, involved a Sally Tibbot official calling a UNIOSUN professor “a bastard” during the verification.
The outcry from staff and the public prompted the Osun State House of Assembly to summon the consultant on 22 August 2023, after which the Assembly ordered a suspension of the exercise. “The consultant’s explanations were unsatisfactory, and the Assembly’s ruling underscored the exercise’s lack of credibility,” Adebooye added.
The university further alleged that Sally Tibbot’s team demonstrated a fundamental ignorance of academic terminology and structures. Terms such as “sabbatical leave,” “study leave,” “visiting lecturer,” and “research leave” were apparently misunderstood, leading the auditors to mistakenly label staff on legitimate leave as ghost workers. “Their lack of knowledge of university operations resulted in a willful misclassification of 250 on‑ground employees,” the VC said.
Adebooye emphasized that UNIOSUN maintains a robust, real‑time payroll verification system known as the “Salary Checker,” which requires staff certification by the 18th of each month before salary disbursement. “Our system is fool‑proof; there is no room for salary padding or ghost workers,” he asserted, noting that the university currently employs 1,463 workers across six campuses, including 628 academic staff, 466 non‑teaching staff, 235 support staff, and 134 NYSC members.
The university also criticized the audit’s methodology, pointing out that Sally Tibbot never allowed the institution to review or respond to the draft report a standard practice known as a “management letter.” “By fencing us out of the verification process, the consultant breached fundamental audit procedures and compromised the report’s integrity,” Adebooye stated, adding that the final report was “subjective, in bad faith, and a deliberate attempt to smear our reputation.”
In response to the fallout, the university has demanded a formal written apology from Sally Tibbot and has threatened to pursue legal remedies under Nigerian law. “The Vice‑Chancellor and our senior professors have been inundated with embarrassing calls and messages from local and international partners. We will not sit idly while our name is tarnished,” Adebooye warned.
He urged all stakeholders—government agencies, civil society, and the media—to treat allegations against academic institutions with the highest level of professional caution. “Universities are custodians of knowledge and character; any public statement affecting our integrity must be based on rigorous verification,” he said, calling for an independent reassessment of the audit findings.
The Osun State Government has yet to issue an official response to UNIOSUN’s demands, but sources within the State Secretariat indicate that a review of the audit process is being considered. Meanwhile, the university remains open to any lawful, properly constituted review and is confident that an independent audit will vindicate its records.
