Job racketeering in Nigeria is no news as it has over the years become a norm especially
in the Civil Service.
Its negative impact on the economy, however, cannot be over-emphasized as this has left the system with so much underperformance due to unqualified personnel and lopsidedness.
Following a motion sponsored by a former Chairman of the Committee of Representatives on Public Accounts, Hon. Wole Oke, the House gave a mandate to the Ad hoc committee under the leadership of Yusuf Gagdi to investigate alleged cases of job racketeering in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
In view also was the alleged manipulation of the IPPIS, a scheme introduced to eliminate ghost workers who collect emoluments from government.
The committee said it received petitions against 39 MDAs.
Gagdi named the MDAs to include the Federal Character Commission (FCC), Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Budget Office of the Federation, IPPIS and Federal Civil Service Commission among others.
Drama
At the commencement of the investigation involving the FCC where some persons were accused of selling jobs for millions of naira, majority of Commissioners representing states at the Commission took turns to accuse the Chairman, Muheeba Farida Dankaka, of breaches in operational and undue interferences in recruitment processes but Dankaka said the issue was a case of “corruption fighting back”, following her attempts to introduce reforms in the system.
However, Dankaka, at another sitting of the committee alongside the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Folashade Yemi-Esan, alleged that some persons were forging her signature to issue recruitment letters to people.
A witness, Abdulmalik Isah, said he was a victim of the alleged racketeering in the FCC.
He said one Haruna Kolo, described as a personal assistant to the Chairman of the Commission, gave him employment which was later withdrawn by Dankaka.
Dankaka fired back, saying Kolo is not his personal aide but a staff member of the IPPIS, who was seconded to the FCC as protocol officer.
“When we got there, I found out we didn’t have a protocol (officer). I requested the secretary to give us somebody. Haruna Kolo had been in the FCC for more than 10 years before we came. And then they gave us Kolo to be with us so that when we wanted to travel, somebody would be at the airport”, she said.
“Surprisingly, we later learnt that Kolo is the IPPIS desk officer in our office, unknown to me. “The letters that went out, they forged my signature. Kolo is not my PA. I was not the one that brought Kolo. Kolo is part of them (Commissioners opposing her)”.
Kolo’s appearance
Kolo, in his own testimony at the hearing, said money was paid for employment and that he only acted on the instruction of the FCC boss.
He said, “When she (Dankaka) came to the Federal Character Commission as Executive Chairman, she appointed me as a protocol officer and I carried out my duty diligently.
“On the allegations of job racketeering, the FCC Chairman instructed me to liaise with one Mr Shehu who is a personal driver and PA to the Taraba State Commissioner.
“As a desk officer, I am responsible for taking whoever is employed to IPPIS for capturing; no one can go there without a letter from the Chairman or the Human Resources Officer of the FCC.
“When she came, she wrote a letter to the Accountant General instructing that no letter from the FCC should be honored except she signs the letter. “So whenever there was new employment, she would sign, give to me and I would take to the Accountant General’s office for capturing.
“Shehu is the one that brought those who paid money into my bank account for job, some paid N1million, others N1.5 million. She asked me to give cash to her and I did through POS; so there is no evidence of transfer or anything.
“The second allegation on my subsequent redeployment to AMCON, that was as a result of her personal favour to me; we were four in number, she gave appointment letters to myself, Kadijah, Olushola and we all proceeded for interview at AMCON headquarters in Abuja after which we were called upon for training on the 16th of January 2023.
“After the training, I and Olushola were called to Lagos. Unfortunately, Kadijah, who is the Chairman’s biological sister, was rejected. The Chairman accused me of being responsible for her rejection”.
Dankaka, in her counter position, swore with the Quran that she never collected any money from Kolo.
Confessions
Shehu, driver and personal assistant of the FCC Commissioner for Taraba State, who was accused during the investigation of collecting money to give slot for jobs at the FCC, while admitting that he worked with Kolo to sell employment to some persons also admitted to have collected millions of naira.
Option
Two victims of the alleged job racketeering at the FCC, who also testified before the House ad-hoc committee, narrated how they paid to get employed rather that engage in crimes.
Even though as of the time of their testimonies, the employment letters they got after paying N1 million and N2 million respectively had been withdrawn, they however pleaded that the letters be returned.
Abdulmalik Isah and Ali Muhammed Yaro said they paid the money to Kolo and Badamasi Jalo, another victim who was allegedly coordinating payments for other candidates on behalf of Kolo for employment into the FCC.
According to Yaro, the employment letters issued to 27 of them were withdrawn at a meeting on July 17, 2023 by a committee which investigated them.
According to him, the committee set up by the Commission promised that another appointment letters will be issued to them but the promise was never fulfilled.
He added that the Secretary to the Taraba State Commissioner told them that will conduct an investigation into the case, recover their money and regularize their appointment while asking them to come back on Tuesday, July 25, 2023.
The witness narrated, “I graduated 11 years ago without a job and I had the chance to become a Boko Haram fighter but I did not because I want to be a good citizen of Nigeria.
“My brothers, Nurudeen Yaro and Abdulrazak Yaro, paid N2 million to Badamasi Yaro’s account on August 2, 2022.
“Badamasi Yaro is working with Haruna Kolo and the money paid into his account was for a job at the Federal Character Commission.
“Haruna Kolo told me the slot was from the Chairperson of the commission and that was why I would be captured under IPPIS platform.
“Badamasi brought the employment letter with some documents to me on August 5, 2022 and then took me to Treasury House in Abuja where Kolo Haruna took me to the IPPIS office and I was captured on the IPPIS platform.
“Kolo Haruna and Badamasi told me my posting letter will be ready after two weeks and I got my first salary in January 2023, five months after the enrollment by IPPIS.
“After that, Badamasi created a Whatsapp group platform for us and we came in February 2023 to see the Director of Human Resources for posting because Kolo could no longer be reached on phone as he claimed that the Chairman secured a job for him at AMCON in Lagos”.
On his part, Isah said that though his employment letter had been withdrawn, he was still receiving salary.
“After receiving the appointment letters, Mr Kolo promised that we would be posted in two months.
“That was when we learnt that there was a recruitment exercise in 2021 and that each of the Commissioners had candidates and that, that was the selection adopted. So, we were nobodies.
“I transferred a million Naira to Kolo’s account because I was told that the monthly pay is about N140, 000 or N130, 000. So, we agreed on N1.5million as driver first”.
Summons/warrant of arrest
As revelations continued before the panel, the committee was to issue expanded summons to critical persons it needed testimonies from. Those invited were the Accountant General of the Federation, past chairpersons of FCC, Director General of AMCON, and Kolo who was accused by the FCC Chairman of issuing forged employment letters in her name.
The Committee also invited the Nigerian Army, Navy, Air Force and the Police as well as heads of intelligence agencies, and more others.
Gagdi expressed displeasure over the failure of some of the invitees to appear.
The committee also summoned the Director of the IPPIS, as well as the Accountant General of the Federation to unfailingly appear before it.
Gagdi, commenting on the investigation, narrated how his committee uncovered irregularities and job racketeering in the Federal Civil Service.
He accused government agencies of committing fraud through waivers to bypass publicly advertising for employment. The Committee Chairman raised questions on agencies which hide under waiver to recruit family members, friends and those who pay money for slots.
According to the Civil Service Act, MDAs are expected to advertise job vacancies but the reality, today, is that the MDAs have taken advantage of the right to waivers to perpetrate job racketeering in the Civil Service.
Gagdi emphasized that no agency has any reason not to advertise vacancies for recruitment.
“Every agency does not want to advertise. Why? You recruit 100, 200, 300, 900, 100, splitting it into three instalments without going to the public to tell Nigerians that you have vacancies and are inviting qualified Nigerians to apply for such things”, he said.
“So take it or leave it, agencies are hiding under waivers to perpetuate employment racketeering and other employment-related fraud.
“No agency will appear here without showing us a certificate of waiver.
Other members of the Committee, who also spoke on the matter, condemned job racketeering in the public service, calling for a review of the Civil Service Act that will ensure that MDAs advertise job vacancies
one of the members, Hon Amobi Godwin Ogar (Abia), said government agencies were deliberately seeking waivers to corrupt the proper process of employment.
Ogar said during the FCC probe, “Majority of government agencies use waiver on advertisement to carry out employment racketeering. I think this is deliberate. So, I want to ask your Commission why you refused to comply with the setup rule to advertise recruitment to ensure the right of applicants.
“Advertising for vacancies would have promoted maximum participation and provision of a wider scope for the selection of the best. “But when you keep requesting for waiver on advertisement, that means something is wrong somewhere and that is the problem we are facing in this country.
“I think it has come to the time we should be doing things right, so that those who do not have people can also get jobs because through waiver, you will do your personal arrangement and deprive good Nigerians the opportunity to get jobs.”
Lopsided employment
The Committee, also during the investigation, queried the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) over what is described as lopsided employment in the agency.
The probe panel had demanded that the agency immediately submit to it the list of all staff employed between 2015 and 2023 and decried lack of adherence to extant regulations of the nation’s public service as it was discovered by the committee that JAMB employed 300 staff from 2015 till date, without advertising.
According to Gagdi, the agency has shortchanged many Nigerians according to their employment records.
He said that from the documents available to the Committee, the examination body had been undertaking employment without due process of advertisement, shortlisting and interview of job seekers. According to him, the agency relied on waivers for recruitment of staff without adhering to the provisions of the law on non-engagement of more than 100 staff annually.
“What makes you think advertising wouldn’t have been better? You have the capacity to screen the people who apply to get better hands to do those jobs. I’m asking this because we are most interested in correcting the fraud associated with waivers”, he added.
Will justice be served?
The investigation is nowhere near conclusion at the moment. One sure thing, however, has been the repeated promise of Gagdi that the committee will leave no stone unturned in getting to the root of the matter. Will the probe, therefore, produce the expected outcome? This remains the question that only time will provide answers to
https://www.vanguardngr.com/2023/09/rumpus-in-abuja-amid-outrageous-claims-govt-jobs-sold-for-millions-of-naira
