Ministries, Departments, Agencies In Secret Recruitments To Cover Up N9.2bn Fraud

The Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, Bolaji Owasanoye, yesterday revealed that after the ICPC discovered N9.2bn as over-bloated personnel costs of the ministries, departments and agencies, the MDAs went on secret recruitments for a cover-up. “They hurriedly started employing people. Appointments given yesterday were backdated one year, and ad hoc staff upgraded,” he revealed. Speaking before the joint Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Anti-corruption and Financial Crime at the 2020 budget defence, he said the ICPC had recovered the money from the various MDAs. He said the money would have been “padded” as personnel costs if the commission had not discovered it. “We got them to sign off the money. The money is now available for government to spend,” he stated. He said he was embarrassed to see academic institutions involved in the sharp practice, calling for their inclusion in the IPPIS system before the October deadline. He also advised that recruitment templates in all agencies of government be changed from offline to prevent recruitment scandal. Suleiman Abdu Kwari, co-chairman of the committee, also confirmed that secret recruitment was ongoing in some MDAs. He said the committee would collaborate with the ICPC to enforce action and make the country a better place.