Job racketeering: We received salaries without working ― Beneficiaries

No fewer than 14 persons, on Monday, August 14, 2023, told the House of Representatives committee investigating job racketeering at the Federal Character Commission (FCC) that they had been receiving salaries from the Federal Government without job placements.

They said the salaries were paid on the platform of the Federal Government’s Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS).

They also told the committee that the salaries were paid into a bank account belonging to the former FCC IPPIS Desk Officer, Haruna Kolo, and the Chief of Protocol to the FCC Chairman, Farida Dankaka.

One of the beneficiaries, Gbadamosi Jalo, said Kolo took him to the IPPIS office and registered him on its portal, noting that he had been receiving salaries since then.

Jalo said he had not been assigned to any government ministry, department, or agency, though he received an appointment letter supposedly issued by the National Institute of Oceanography.

He told the committee that he paid some money to Kolo to get the consideration, adding that Kolo told him that the money he paid was received on behalf of the FCC chairperson.

Jalo said the driver to the commissioner representing Taraba at the FCC, Gambo Yisha’u, also confirmed to him that such money ended up with Dankaka.

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12 other witnesses made similar submissions, alleging that they paid money to Kolo, but had not been posted to any ministry, department, or agency of government.

Speaking, a potential beneficiary of the racket, Musa Ibrahim, said he paid to one Abdullahi Azareh, who acted as the linkman to the FCC commissioner representing Nasarawa State.

He said though the operatives of Nasarawa State Police Command arrested Azareh after a barrage of complaints and petitions, he was released upon intervention by FCC commissioners.

“We are victims of circumstances; the guy was arrested and detained for a few hours because he was working with the commissioner representing Nasarawa State at the FCC,” Ibrahim said.

The chairman of the committee, Yusuf Gagdi, said the witnesses were invited after the committee got to know about their statements of account and payment to Kolo and after receiving their petitions.

He noted that while the committee was not a prosecuting agency, it would get to the root of the matter and recommend appropriate sanctions.

Gagdi assured that the committee would scrutinise the bank accounts of all FCC commissioners and the accounts of those serving as their go-between.

The Star