The Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre), a leading anti-corruption organization, has written a petition to the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Professor Bolaji Owasanoye, SAN, expressing its concern about the Federal Civil Service Commission employing staff with fake employment letters.

The organization accused the commission of failing to make reports of its investigation available in the public domain regarding the issue.

The petition, signed by HEDA’s Chairman, Olanrewaju Suraju, referenced a viral report published in national dailies on August 15, 2022, which disclosed that the Federal Government discovered and sacked 23 workers with fake letters of employment.

The organization expressed its disappointment that the commission has not made its investigations known to the public.

The petition stated that the discovery of fake employment letters was made by a staff in the Ministry of Works and Housing, Mr. Richard Oghenerhoro, who reported the presence of ghost workers in the Ministry. The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola SAN, set up a committee to investigate the allegations, and the committee found the allegations to be true.

However, since the conclusion of the investigation and submission of its report, there has been no information in the public domain to indicate that the allegation has been reported to the commission or the commission investigating the allegations.

According to Suraju, “This has raised concerns about the commission’s ability to tackle corruption in the civil service,” stressing that ghost workers in the Federal Civil Service have been a major concern for the government, as it negatively affects revenue capacity.

The anti-corruption organisation and non-partisan human rights and development league therefore called on the commission to investigate and prosecute everyone involved in this act of corrupt practices. It also urged the commission to “take an immediate action on the petition.”

HEDA further stated that it would closely monitor the situation and look forward to hearing or receiving possible updates on the steps taken by the commission to curb this corrupt practice, which is capable of undermining the ability of the government to perform its basic statutory duties in serving the citizens.

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