Police arrest man over ₦5.2m job scam in Kebbi

The Kebbi State Police Command has arrested a man, Hamza Sama, for allegedly running a fake employment scheme that defrauded over 175 job seekers of ₦5.2 million.

According to the Command’s spokesperson, SP Bashir Usman, Sama, a resident of the KCC area in Birnin Kebbi, claimed to be an authorised agent capable of securing government-backed school feeding jobs in the state’s primary and secondary schools.

“Preliminary investigations revealed that the suspect collected ₦30,000 from each applicant as a so-called processing fee,” Usman said, adding that the victims acted in good faith, believing the jobs were legitimate and government-approved.

Among the victims were Shafa’atu, Yusuf Yahaya (popularly known as Baban Zaria), Hussai Sani, Ubaida Abubakar, and more than 170 others who police said were deceived by the scheme.

Investigators confirmed that no such recruitment exercise existed and that Sama had no authorisation from any government agency to conduct the employment process.

The suspect remains in police custody and may be charged to court upon conclusion of investigations.

The Police Public Relations Officer urged the public, particularly job seekers, to exercise caution against individuals exploiting desperation by offering non-existent jobs.

This arrest reflects a growing trend of employment-related scams in north-west Nigeria, where youths are frequently targeted with promises of work in government programmes, schools, and private companies.

In a similar case reported on January 17, three Nigerians lost a combined ₦4.2 million to a cross-border job scam in Ghana, paying large sums for fake white-collar positions.