The Head of the Civil Service of the Nigerian Federation, Folasade Yemi-Esan says her office has uncovered more than 1,500 workers who joined the Federal Public Service with fake appointment letters.
Mrs Yemi-Esan (pictured) said the fraudsters would be delisted from the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS).
In an address to a conference organised by the Anti-Corruption Academy of Nigeria, Mrs Yemi-Esan said more than 1,000 fake appointments had been found in just one Ministry, with the remainder found in other Ministries, Departments and Agencies during a Service-wide verification exercise.
She said the Federal Government would spare no effort to remove these names from the IPPIS to serve as deterrent to others.
“Since the introduction of the IPPIS, we have found it much easier to track fake employments,” Mrs Yemi-Esan said.
“This has reduced the risk of employing less efficient, unqualified and undependable personnel to handle the affairs of Government.”
She said the crackdown had followed a 2019 report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, which estimated 32 per cent of job-seekers gave bribes to gain employment in the Public Service.
“What is also important to note from the report, which perhaps is fundamental to understanding how corruption thrives in recruitment processes, is that an increasing number of the job seekers were in contact with public officials or possibly other entities,” Mrs Yemi-Esan said.
“Hence, the trend underscores the importance of putting in place systems to reduce, to the possible minimum, any form of human contact in the recruitment process.”
Abuja, 9 April 2022
