The Federal Government has dismissed some top civil servants over alleged involvement in illegal recruitment.
The top officials were said to have extorted N400,000 each from 400 applicants and given them jobs illegally.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, made the disclosure on Saturday in Lagos during a meeting with some selected on-air-personalities
Mohammed said the dismissed officers who were on Grade Level 17 in one of the parastatals in the ministry had included the names of the applicants in the Integrated Payroll and Personnel System before the fraud was discovered.
“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.”
According to the minister, the incident showed how faulty the IPPIS was and how it had been compromised by fraudulent government officials.
He said the present administration will make the IPPIS system tamper-proof to save it from the manipulations of ghost workers.
The minister also said the ongoing war against corruption was for the survival of the nation, calling on stakeholders to support the crusade.
