Implementation of a Staff Payroll Automation System for Local Government Councils in Zamfara State

Payroll irregularities including ghost workers, salary padding, and delayed payments remain entrenched in local government administration across Zamfara State, North West Nigeria. This project implements a staff payroll automation system for Zamfara State local government councils, aimed at eliminating fraudulent payment entries and ensuring accurate salary disbursement. The system is developed using Java EE with a MySQL database, incorporating biometric staff verification at payroll processing stages. The waterfall development lifecycle is followed to meet the procurement and audit requirements of the Zamfara State Local Government Service Commission. Features include staff biometric enrolment, monthly salary computation, allowance and deduction management, PAYE tax deduction, payment instruction generation for commercial banks, and payroll audit reporting. A 12-week pilot at two Zamfara local government councils involved 180 staff members and 10 payroll officers. Results show a 31 percent reduction in the payroll figure compared to the preceding manual period, attributable to ghost worker elimination, and payroll processing time fell from 5 days to 6 hours. The study recommends extension to all 14 Zamfara local government areas with phased biometric enrolment supported by state government funding. Keywords: payroll automation, ghost worker, Zamfara State, local government, biometric