Disturbing revelations have continued to emerge following the House of Representatives investigation into job racketeering in ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of government and the abuse of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information Service (IPPIS).
The investigations have, so far, uncovered a high level of corruption among government officials, many of whom have confessed to receiving monies from unsuspecting job seekers in exchange for jobs.
The Committee led by lawmaker, Yusuf Gagdi, who represents APC, Plateau, in the past month discovered that top staff of the Federal Character Commission (FCC), an agency charged with the responsibility of ensuring fairness, equity, transparency, and accountability in the sharing of federal vacancies have been indicted in the alleged racketeering.
Although the investigation is still ongoing, the ad-hoc committee found a gross violation of the FCC Act by the top management of the agency where they indiscriminately granted employment waivers to MDAs, conducted lopsided employment in most agencies and outrightly sold job vacancies to desperate unemployed people.
FCC INVESTIGATION
The shocking revelation from the FCC came to the fore when an erstwhile IPPIS desk officer at the agency, Mr. Haruna Kolo who was accused of collecting monies from people to offer them jobs, confessed that he had collected over N75 million from applicants on the instruction of the FCC chairman, Dr. Farida Dankaka for employment.
Kolo told the committee that the FCC Chairman, Dankaka instructed him to receive the money in his personal account and pay to her in cash, which he did at several meetings at her house.
The ex-IPPIS desk officer disclosed that he resigned from FCC on the 2nd of November 2022 to begin work at Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), yet received salaries from the FCC on two occasions, which he claimed he reported to the FCC Human Resource Officer, who said it would be sorted out.
In his words Kolo said, “When she came to Federal Character as the executive chairman, she appointed me as a protocol officer, which I carried out my duty diligently. (She being the FCC Chairman)
“On the allegations of job racketeering, the FCC chairman instructed me to liaise with one Mr Shehu who is a personal driver and PA to the Taraba State commissioner.
”As a desk officer, I’m responsible for taking whoever is employed to IPPIS for capturing. No one can go there without a letter from the Chairman or Human Resource Officer of the FCC.
The embattled officer further revealed that “Shehu is the one that brought those who paid money to my account for a job, some paid 1 million, others 1.5 million all to my personal account, my Ecobank account. She asked me to give cash to her, which I did through POS so there is no evidence of transfer or anything.
Meanwhile, the adhoc Committee Chairman, Gagdi revealed that Mr Kolo’s bank statements had been obtained and some names which made suspicious transfers to the account flagged and summoned to appear at the investigative hearing.
Gagdi said the committee found that one Gbadamosi Jalo made several transfers to Mr Kolo.
In his words, “In Haruna Kolo’s account, we saw transactions linked to Ishau Gambo, a driver linked to the Taraba Commissioner. We have no reason other than to invite the Taraba Commissioner. We called him with Abubakar, the PA to the commissioner