By Ike Uchechukwu
CALABAR — No fewer than 47 applicants lost more than N51.8 million after allegedly paying individuals who claimed they could secure local government appointments for them in Cross River State, the state government’s investigative panel has found.
Chairman of the Cross River State Local Government Service Commission, Nsa Ekpo, disclosed this on Monday while fielding questions from journalists in Calabar.
Ekpo said the panel found that the affected applicants paid amounts ranging from N100,000 to N1.5 million in the belief that the payments would facilitate their appointments into the local government service.
“The panel found out that as many as 47 victims were cajoled, frightened and intimidated to part with over N51.8 million for fake local government jobs,” he said.
He said applicants seeking senior positions were among those who allegedly paid the highest amounts, with some reportedly paying N1.3 million and N1.5 million.
According to him, some of the applicants were allegedly given documents presented to them as employment letters, which reinforced their belief that they had secured government appointments.
Ekpo said the investigation also uncovered allegations of attempts to influence the recruitment process, including efforts to include relatives and other persons who allegedly did not meet the requirements.
He said the investigation followed complaints from members of the public, prompting the state government to constitute a panel to examine the 2024/2025 local government recruitment exercise.
The chairman said the panel relied substantially on information and evidence submitted by whistleblowers.
“Many of these victims came to open up and submitted evidence which the panel verified.
“We had guaranteed all whistleblowers security and confidentiality if they came up with evidence,” he said.
Ekpo said the government was taking steps to identify persons allegedly connected to the irregularities for questioning and, where appropriate, prosecution or other lawful sanctions.
He said the findings resulted in the cancellation of the 2024/2025 recruitment exercise.
The chairman, however, clarified that some candidates from the cancelled exercise would not be required to participate in the recruitment process again.
He said 821 candidates from the annulled exercise had been cleared and would be retained, while other qualified applicants would be considered in a fresh recruitment exercise expected to commence within two weeks.
According to Ekpo, the new exercise will target the recruitment of 4,000 personnel into the state’s local government service.
He assured prospective applicants that the exercise would be conducted transparently and would not be commercialised.
Ekpo added that the final list of successful candidates, including the 821 persons retained from the previous exercise, would be published to promote transparency.
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