No fewer than 47 applicants lost more than N51.8 million to fraudsters who allegedly sold fake local government jobs in Cross River, the state government’s investigative panel has found.
Mr Nsa Ekpo, the Chairman, Cross River Local Government Service Commission, disclosed this while fielding questions from journalists in Calabar.
He said the victims paid between N100,000 and N1.5 million after being deceived into believing that they could secure local government appointments by making payments.
“The panel found out that as many as 47 victims were cajoled, frightened, and intimidated to part with over N51.8 million for fake local government jobs,” he said.
He said applicants seeking senior positions were allegedly the worst affected, with some paying N1.3 million and N1.5 million for appointments that did not exist.
According to him, the perpetrators allegedly reinforced the deception by issuing the victims with fake employment letters, giving them the impression that they had secured government appointments.
Ekpo said the alleged fraud was further compounded by manipulation of the recruitment process, with some individuals allegedly attempting to insert family members into the list, including persons who did not reside in Cross River.
He said the revelations followed complaints from members of the public, prompting the state government to constitute a panel to investigate the 2024/2025 local government recruitment exercise.
The chairman said the panel relied substantially on information and evidence provided by whistleblowers.
“Many of these victims came to open up and submitted evidence which the panel verified.
“We had guaranteed all whistleblowers security and confidentiality if they came up with evidence,” he said.
Ekpo said the government was working to identify persons allegedly involved in the irregularities for questioning, prosecution and other appropriate sanctions.
He said the findings had led to the cancellation of the 2024/2025 recruitment exercise.
The chairman, however, clarified that some candidates from the cancelled exercise would not be required to participate in the process again.
He said 821 persons from the annulled exercise had been cleared and would be retained, while other genuinely qualified applicants would be considered in a fresh recruitment exercise expected to commence within two weeks.
According to him, the new exercise targets the recruitment of 4000 persons into the state’s local government service commission.
Ekpo assured prospective applicants that the new exercise would follow due process and would not be commercialised.
He added that the final list of successful candidates, including the 821 persons retained from the previous exercise, would be published to promote transparency.
(NAN)
