Some top Federal Civil Servants have been fired for allegedly extorting about N160million from desperate job seekers. The deal was carried out in one of the parastatals under the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture during the last dispensation.
Information and Culture Minister Lai Mohammed said the dismissed officials collected N400, 000 each from 400 people whose names were then included in the Integrated Payroll and Personnel System (IPPIS).
Mohammed, at a meeting with On-Air-Personalities in continuation of his five-day consultations with critical stakeholders in the media industry, said the culprits included Grade Level 17 officers in the parastatal.
“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.’
“That was how we got to know that there was a dedicated account these people paid into. Of course, we dismissed these officials and we even handed them over to the Police,“ the Minster said. Mohammed said that the incident showed how faulty the IPPIS was and how it had been compromised by unscrupulous elements.
THE NATION
No comments:
Post a Comment