by Emeka Nwankwo
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, on Saturday announced that the Federal Government has dismissed some top civil service officials for extorting money from 400 applicants and offering them illegal employment into the civil service.
The minister stated this at a meeting with On-Air Personalities (OAP) in Lagos.
Lai Mohammed further disclosed that the officials affected were on Salary Grade Level 17 in one of the organizations in the ministry.
The fraudulent act was discovered after the said officials had added the names of the applicants in the integrated Payroll and personnel system (IPPIS).
The minister stated that: “The first scandal I met in one of the parastatals when I assumed office was the illegal employment of 400 people. 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 is how we got to know that there is a dedicated account these people pay to. Of course, we dismissed these officials and we even handed them over to the Police.”
Lai Mohammed also said that the act by these government officials have disclosed the fault of the IPPIS system.
He, however, revealed that the administration of President Buhari was taking steps to ensure that the IPPIS system was tamper proof and immune to people with wrong intentions.
