ICPC: Labour ministry, UCH Ibadan involved in recruitment scam

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) says the ministry of labour and the University College Hospital Ibadan are involved in illegal recruitment.

Bolaji Owasanoye, ICPC chairman, said this on Monday while speaking at the third national summit on diminishing corruption in the public service.

Owasanoye said an investigation carried out by the ICPC revealed that several MDAs are involved in illegal recruitment which reflects in the huge wage bill on personnel and operational costs standing at about 70 percent of the annual budget.

“A major push factor on high cost of governance and rising personnel budget is illegal recruitment, illegal and unilateral increase in wages and remuneration by some MDAs, indiscriminate local and international travels, unreasonable demands by some political appointee board members of MDAs without regard for extant circulars on cost management; procurement fraud, budget padding, etc,” the ICPC chairman said.

“ICPC investigation of some cases of illegal recruitment forwarded to us by the head of the civil service of the federation has so far implicated ministry of labour and the University College Hospital Ibadan and a number of corrupt staff of other MDAs at a lower level. This abuse of power is consummated with complicity of compromised elements in IPPIS. These cases are currently under investigation.”

Speaking further, Owasanoye added that “at another level, a syndicate of corrupt individuals within the service corruptly employ unsuspecting Nigerians, issue them fake letters of employment, fraudulently enrol them on IPPIS and post them to equally unsuspecting MDAs to commence work”.

“ICPC is prosecuting one of the leaders of the syndicate from whose custody we retrieved several fake letters of recommendation purportedly signed by the chief of staff to the president, Honourable ministers, federal civil service commission and other high ranking Nigerians,” he said.