The Federal Character Commission (FCC) job racket was being investigated by a House of Representatives committee on Monday, when fourteen people testified that they had been getting wages from the federal government without being placed in jobs.
The Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS) of the Federal Government, according to what they claimed, is the system used to pay salaries.
They further disclosed to the committee that they gave Mr. Haruna Kolo, a former FCC IPPIS Desk Officer and Chief of Protocol to FCC Chairwoman Mrs. Farida Dankaka, money in exchange for his consideration.
One of them, Mr. Gbadamosi Jalo, claimed Kolo brought him to the IPPIS office, enrolled him on its portal, and that he has been receiving pay ever then.
He claimed that despite receiving an appointment letter purportedly from the National Institute of Oceanography, he had not been allocated to any government ministry, department, or organisation.
In order to gain the consideration, he claimed to have paid Kolo some money, and Kolo claimed to have informed him that the FCC chairwoman had accepted the payment on his behalf.
The driver of the Commissioner who represented Taraba at the FCC, Mr. Gambo Yisha’u, according to Jalo, also confirmed to him that Mrs. Dankaka received the money.
Twelve other witnesses gave identical testimony, claiming that they paid Kolo money but were not assigned to any government ministry, department, or organisation despite having done so.
Mr. Musa Ibrahim, a possible victim of the scheme, testified that he paid money to Mr. Abdullahi Azareh, a linkman for the FCC commissioner representing Nasarawa State, in order to gain access to the scheme.
Despite being detained by the police in Nasarawa State following a flurry of complaints and petitions, he claimed, Azareh was eventually freed thanks to the intervention of the FCC commissioners.
We are victims of circumstance; the man was working with the commissioner who represented Nasarawa State at the FCC when he was arrested and held for a few hours but then freed, the man claimed.
Rep. Yusuf Gagdi, the chairman of the committee, earlier stated that the witnesses were called after the committee was informed of their bank transactions, Kolo payments, and petitions.
Although the committee wasn’t a prosecuting body, he pointed out that it would find the source of the problem and suggest the proper sanctions.
IPPIS’s porosity was criticised by him.
The IPPIS, he said, “has to explain a lot of concerns if Kolo was finding it easy to go to IPPIS and register payees without the knowledge of authorising personnel.
Gagdi promised that the committee would examine the bank accounts of all FCC commissioners as well as the accounts of individuals acting as their intermediaries. (NAN)
