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From Kenneth Udeh, Abuja
The Senate on Tuesday ordered an investigation into allegations of lopsidedness, nepotism and illegal recruitment amongst other offenses in the Federal civil service.
The Senate’s directive is sequel to a motion expedited by Senator Zam Titus Tartenger (Benue North West) who uncovered amongst other offenses how Salaries were being padded in addition to the enrollment of ghost workers perpetrated by Government officials in the Federal civil service and its commission.
Titus accused employees of government of defying the Federal government’s Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) which is originally meant to curtail and ultimately, eliminate illegalities in the civil/public service, in terms of human resource and payroll, human factor in its application
Corroborating his findings, the Senator reminded the Senate that Head of Service of the Federation, Dr. Folashade Yemi-Esan had in July 2023 raised an alarm that the Federal government had discovered 1,618 civil servants with fake employment letters. According to Titus , Yemi-Esan made this known while speaking with journalists ahead of the 2023 Civil Service Week.
Titus informed the Senate that unqualified persons have been employed into the Federal civil service due to nepotism despite the commission’s objective which was established with the responsibilities of recruitment and deployment of officers with requisite qualifications into the service.
He lamented that favouritism has found its way into the commission; “that counter productive malady to favour certain groups and not consistent with the commission’s vision seems to have recently crept into the commission as allegations of illegal recruitment or employment into the service has been reported.
“employees of the government are capitalizing on insider abuse to undermine the efficiency of the IPPIS and to perpetrate unwholesome activities, resulting in cases of ‘salary paddings’, ghost names in government payrolls, among others.
The Senator stressed that the prosecution of persons involved will serve as a deterrent to others. He recalled that in December 2021, a particular Ministry of the Federal Government alone weeded out a total of 1,020 of such illegally employed staff with over 300 employment letters further sent to be authenticated by the Federal Civil Service Commission;
He said “Mere removal of such names from payroll without prosecution will not deter those corruptly feasting from this exercise at the expense of a virile civil service backed up by a sound and foolproof IPPIS; and Convinced that if urgent action is not taken to ensure Federal Character Principle and curb lopsidedness will weaken the cohesion of the Civil Service with its attendant damage to governance and service delivery.
Contributing to the motion Senator Neda Imasuen (Edo Central) bemoaned how qualified persons were denied job opportunities in the Federal workforce because of their lack of acquaintance to influential persons in Government.
“The MDAs bypass this agency and continue to employ people of their own. Many states are under-represented in MDAs because they don’t know people that can bring them in.
“This motion must be taken seriously to put an end to this, many of those employed through these illegal means are not even qualified because they are coming from the back door, ” Imasuen stressed.
The Senate in its resolution presided by Senate President Godswill Akpabio mandated its committee on Establishment and Public Service Matters, Labour and Productivity and committee on Federal Character to carry out a holistic Investigation on the matter and come up with appropriate recommendations to the Senate Within four weeks.
