No fewer than 47 applicants were allegedly defrauded of over N51.8 million in the cancelled 2024/2025 local government recruitment exercise in Cross River State.
The Chairman of the Cross River State Local Government Service Commission, Barr. Eyo Nsa Ekpo, disclosed this during an early morning programme, Let’s Talk Nigeria, on Sparkling FM.
Ekpo said the victims were allegedly cajoled, frightened and intimidated into parting with amounts ranging from N100,000 to N1.5 million in exchange for local government employment.
According to him, some of those who applied for senior positions allegedly paid as much as N1.3 million and N1.5 million to secure appointments.
He said the revelation followed investigations by a panel constituted by the state government after complaints and public uproar over the recruitment exercise.
“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,” Ekpo said.
He disclosed that the perpetrators allegedly went further to issue fake employment letters to applicants, thereby giving them the impression that they had secured government jobs.
The commission chairman said some of the alleged perpetrators also manipulated the process to accommodate family members, including persons who were not resident in Cross River.
“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 state government was identifying those allegedly involved in the fraud for questioning, prosecution and appropriate sanctions.
The state government recently cancelled the 2024/2025 recruitment exercise following the investigation and recommendations of the panel.
However, Ekpo said 821 people from the earlier exercise would be retained, while other qualified applicants would be allowed to participate in a fresh recruitment exercise expected to commence in two weeks.
He assured applicants that the new exercise would follow standard procedures and would not be commercialised.
He added that the list of successful candidates from the fresh recruitment, alongside the 821 retained workers, would be published to ensure transparency.