The Federal Government has uncovered over 1,500 workers who joined the Federal Civil Service with fake appointment letters. The Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Folasade Yemi-Esan announced this during a National Policy Dialogue on Tuesday in Abuja, vowing to delist them from the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS).
The "National Policy Dialogue on Entrenching Transparency in Public Office Recruitment in Nigeria" was organized by the Anti-Corrruption Academy of Nigeria (ACAN), a research and training arm of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
Mrs. Yemi-Esan also disclosed that the workers were discovered during a service-wide verification exercise with over 1,000 people were found in one ministry, while others were in other Ministries, Departments and agencies.
She added that part of the implementation of the IPPIS was to uncover fake employment, stressing that the federal government will remove their names from the IPPIS to serve as a deterrent to others.
“For instance, in the past year, in one ministry alone, over 1,000 individuals bearing fake letters of appointment were detected.
“It is disheartening to point out that the office recently received a report from the Federal Civil Service Commission forwarding the names of over 500 persons in various MDAs in possession of fake letters of appointment.
“Similarly, following the outcome of the Service-Wide Verification Exercise for officers recruited from 2013 – 2020, the Federal Civil Service Commission has also requested the suspension of the salaries of over 3,000 officers across the MDAs.
“These officers failed to appear for the exercise pending further clearance,” she said.