The Federal Government has suspended some civil servants in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for their alleged roles in salary padding.
Those affected are from the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF), and an undisclosed institute.
It was gathered that the suspended workers connived with some officials in the OAGF to pad their salaries above what they earn by manipulating the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS).
It was learned that the Assistant Director (AD), who is the desk officer in charge of officials’ salaries, allegedly connived with the OAGF personnel to pad the salaries of unspecified number of lower cadre workers.
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“The AD in connivance with some staff members are deep in the salary padding racket. The alarm blew recently when a Level 7 officer, whose salary should be in the range of N60,000 was paid over N400,000 – the salary package for a director.
“What happened was that another colleague on the same salary scale saw the pay slip of a female colleague with a net pay of over N400,000. Surprised, he tried to get details of the excess payment but was rebuffed.
“Following the cold attitude from his colleague, the aggrieved staff raised the alarm and a committee was set up to investigate the matter,” a source familiar with the incident told The Nation.
Confirming the development, the RMAFC Chairman, Mohammed Bello Shehu, said the commission has identified some culprits and placed them on suspension pending the investigation into the incident.
Shehu said some workers at the commission were found to have manipulated the IPPIS system to pad their salaries above what they were supposed to earn.
“If the indicted officials are found culpable of the salary padding allegations, they will be handed over to the appropriate authorities for prosecution,” he added.
The RMAFC boss, who declined to disclose the number or the identities of those involved, stressed that the commission will not condone such blatant disregard of the civil service rules.
“We will investigate to know how long this has been going on, how much has been illegally acquired, and attempts made to recover the excess from those involved,” Shehu said.
