Following the House of Representatives inquiry into employment racketeering in government ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) and the misuse of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information Service (IPPIS), disturbing facts have continued to surface.

The investigations have so far revealed a significant degree of official corruption, with several of them confessing to accepting payments from unwitting job applicants in exchange for positions.

The Federal Character Commission (FCC), an organisation tasked with the duty of ensuring fairness, equity, transparency, and accountability in the sharing of federal vacancies, has been indicted in the alleged racketeering, according to the committee led by lawmaker Yusuf Gagdi, who represents the APC, Plateau.

The ad hoc committee discovered a serious violation of the FCC Act by the agency’s top management, who arbitrarily granted employment waivers to MDAs, conducted lopsided employment in the majority of agencies, and outright sold job openings to desperate unemployed individuals.

FCC EXAMINATION
The shocking information from the FCC came to light when Mr. Haruna Kolo, a former IPPIS desk officer at the agency who was accused of obtaining money from applicants in order to offer them jobs, admitted to having obtained over N75 million from them on the direction of the FCC chairman, Dr. Farida Dankaka, in order to hire them.

Kolo informed the committee that Dankaka, the FCC Chairman, gave him the go-ahead to deposit the funds into his personal account and transfer them to her in cash, which he did at multiple meetings held at her residence.

Ex-IPPIS desk officer claimed that despite leaving FCC on November 2, 2022, to start working for Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), he continued to receive paychecks from the FCC twice. He claimed to have reported this to the FCC Human Resource Officer, who promised to resolve the issue.

According to Kolo, “When she arrived to Federal Character as the executive chairman, she assigned me as a protocol officer, which I dutifully performed. (She is the Chairman of the FCC)

The FCC chairman gave me the go-ahead to speak with Mr. Shehu, the Taraba State commissioner’s personal driver and personal assistant, on the charges of employment racketeering.

“As a desk officer, it is my duty to transport everyone hired to IPPIS for capturing. Without a letter from the FCC Chairman or Human Resource Officer, no one is permitted to visit there.

“When she arrived, she sent a letter to the Accountant General demanding that no letter from the FCC be honoured until she signed it. As a result, whenever there was a new job, she signs them, delivers them to me, and I take them to the Office of the Accountant General for capturing.

The under fire officer went on to say, “Shehu is the one who 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 her cash, which I did through a point-of-sale system, negating any possibility of transfer documentation.

According to him, “they are making the charge based on the notion that I worked at seven sites while I was never involved in seven occupations at any time.

“The second allegation on my subsequent employment at AMCOM, was a result of her personal favour to me,” Kolo said. “We were four in number, and she gave the appointment letter to myself, Kadijah, and Olusola. We all proceeded for an interview at AMCON headquarters in Abuja after which we were called upon for training on the 16th January 2023. After the training, I and Olusola were called to Lagos.

Unfortunately, the chairman’s biological sister Kadijah was rejected, and I was blamed for it by the chairman.

“I fail to see why the chairwoman would level such serious accusations against my modest self. I had to leave Abuja after being intimidated, even at gunpoint. Sir, I want this committee to know that the FCC chairwoman should be held accountable if anything were to happen to me following this meeting, he said.

In the meantime, Mr. Kolo’s bank statements had been obtained, and certain names associated with suspicious transfers to the account had been highlighted and summoned to attend at the investigative hearing, according to the adhoc Committee’s chairman, Gagdi.

The committee, according to Gagdi, discovered that Gbadamosi Jalo made many transactions to Mr. Kolo.

In his words, “We saw transactions linked to Ishau Gambo, a chauffeur linked to the Taraba Commissioner, in Haruna Kolo’s account. Other than inviting the Taraba Commissioner, we have no other purpose. Together with Abubakar, the commissioner’s PA, we called him.

Some applicants who obtained the position through racketeering were extensively displayed, according to Gbadamosi Jalo, he claimed.

Jalo said before the committee while under oath that he paid N1.2 million into Mr. Kolo’s account and received a job offer from the FCC. He claimed that after that, he had signed up for the IPPIS and had started getting paid.

He told the committee that Kolo had advised him to find more job searchers who are willing to pay once his employment had been successful. He informed the committee that he received payments from roughly ten people. The majority of applicants who came to him, according to Jalo, were hired by the Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR).

Ishayu Gambo, the commissioner of Taraba State’s driver, introduced Jalo to Mr. Kolo, according to Jalo. “Through Ishau Gambo, I got to know Haruna Kolo. We completed our IPPIS on October 14, 2021. The following month, November, I began receiving my pay. On the basis of that, I felt confident. Kolo instructed me to seek out more folks. Additionally, he informed me that there would be a new hiring. When they transferred funds to my account,” he remarked.

Musa Ibrahim did the same thing when he appeared before the committee. In his evidence, he asserted that he had helped arrange the transfer of funds to the account of Abdulahi Ibrahim, who was purportedly a supporter of Nasarawa State’s FCC Commissioner Mamman Ankayi.

He claimed that Mr. Ibrahim was arrested but the commissioner arranged his release while presenting the committee with evidence of payments.

“Abdullahi Ibrahim was a scam; we eventually got him arrested,” he claimed.

The victims of alleged employment racketeering at the FCC, Abdulmalik Ahmed and Ali Yaro, both claimed to have paid N1 million and N2 million, respectively, for job placements at the commission.

Ahmed, an Adamawa native who testified before the ad hoc committee, claimed that he met Mr. Yisha’u Gambo, the Commissioner who represented Taraba, and that he promised to obtain him a job at the FCC if he paid him N1 million.

He claimed, however, that because Yisha’u was a regular driver, he would not provide the money to him. “Mr. Harunu Kolo, a former FCC employee and the desk officer for IPPIS in the commission, was introduced by Yisha’u. When I verified that Kolo was an employee of the commission, I transferred N1 million into his account; however, I refrained from paying the driver out of concern for his safety.

“I deposited N1,000,000 into Kolo’s account. Initially, Gambo, the Commissioner’s driver who was representing Taraba, and I came to an agreement for N1.5 million.

He claimed that once they paid the required amount, 27 of them received appointment letters; however, despite the letters being issued, they were not posted to any designated MDAs.

Before they cunningly stole it from us, the Head of Human Resources at FCC assured us that our appointments were legitimate. Before I disengaged without posting, I was involved for two years.

He asserted that, in contrast to the FCC’s claim that there had been no hiring since 2017, hiring had taken place in 2021, and all of the commissioners had participated. “Kolo persuaded me to pay in order for our employment to follow that of the Directors and the Commissioners.

Yaro, a different witness from Borno, claimed that in order to get a position at the FCC, he was required to pay N2 million. “I transferred N2 million into Badamasi Jalo’s account, another victim who served as Kolo’s agent for money collection. I was recorded on IPPIS on August 5, 2021, but I never received placement, he claimed, adding that Kolo and Badamasi both promised me that I would receive an appointment letter in January.

“I had the opportunity to join Boko Haram after I graduated 11 years ago, but I turned it down because I wanted to be a good citizen,” he stated.

Denials:

Head of the FCC

In response to Kolo’s accusations, the FCC chairman, Dr. Farida Dankaka, swore before God and the Holy Qur’an that she had never demanded money from Kolo and that she had never given her former employee the go-ahead to do so. “I am with this Qur’an, I swear by Almighty God. Thank God for the Qur’an that the secretary brought. May the Almighty destroy everything I worked for if I ever receive a single naira from this Kolo. It should be destroyed if I have ever instructed him to go collect one naira from anyone using the Qur’an.

Since December, I had not laid eyes on this Kolo. I’m not familiar with the driver they are referring about. I’ve never even looked at the driver. He claimed to come to my house to offer me money, but he doesn’t,” the woman remarked.

Additionally, Mamman Alakai, the commissioner for Nasarawa state in the FCC, who was also referenced, refuted the claim that he solicited funds to place job seekers in jobs.

One of the possible beneficiaries, Musa Ibrahim, revealed to the committee that he and nine other people put millions of dollars into the account of Abdullahi Ibrahim, a linkman to Alakai.

The Commissioner, however, said he had never been paid for a job offer when he spoke before the ad hoc committee. “A traditional leader in Nasarawa contacted to let me know that one of my assistants had taken money from him in exchange for employment openings. I requested that the authorities track the phone number, and they identified the caller as Ibrahim. I petitioned the police, and they found him,” Alakai added.

“When the police arrived to his home, they discovered a Nigerian Correctional Service uniform. He asserted that he was employed there. I was informed that the victims of his deception had filed legal claims.

Alakai requested that the committee look into his bank account, stating that “since Ibrahim claimed he paid money to me for job slots, my account is open for the committee to scrutinise.”

More MDAs are anticipated to testify before the committee as part of the ongoing inquiry. Yusuf Gagdi, the chairman of the investigation panel, has vowed to expose all corruption and irregularities related to employment in the government’s agencies. Additionally, he has committed to advocate for the elimination of waivers for employment in federal agencies, arguing that these provisions are being exploited and poorly handled by individuals in positions of control.