FG sacks senior civil servants over job racketeering

FG sacks senior civil servants over job racketeering

The Federal Government has summarily sacked some senior civil servants for extorting money from 400 applicants and offering them employment illegally.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed on Saturday in Lagos at a meeting with On-Air-Personalities in continuation of his five-day consultations with critical stakeholders in the media industry.

Mohammed, who said the affected officers were on Grade Level 17 in one of the parastatals in his ministry, said the officers had included the names of the applicants in the Integrated Payroll and Personnel System (IPPIS) before the fraud was discovered.

“The first scandal I met in one of the parastatals when I assumed office was the illegal employment of 400 people,” he said.

“This scandal started with very senior officers up to level 17 in that department. They sent out letters and text messages asking people to apply for jobs for a fee of N400, 000 and they were given letters of employment.

“They did not stop there. They invited these people to go and be captured on the IPPIS and they even took cameras to hotels to get them captured. At the end of the day the bubble burst.

“One of the victims told these officials, ‘you cannot take my money and still disengage me. I have a valid letter.”

According to him, the incident showed how faulty the IPPIS was and how it had been compromised by unscrupulous elements, adding that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari was doing all it could to make the IPPIS tamper-proof and guide it from people who might want to load ghost workers on it.

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