Fake Employment Letter: FG delists 1,618 workers from payroll

At least 1,618 federal workers have been delisted from the Integration Personnel Payroll and Information System (IPPIS) by the federal government in the last year.

According to Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, the Head of the Federation’s Civil Service, the affected individuals were delisted after it was discovered that their employment letters were fraudulent and illegal.

Yemi-Esan made the remarks on Wednesday in Abuja, during a media briefing held as part of the activities commemorating the 2024 Civil Service Week.

She disclosed that through physical verification conducted by the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of Government, the once over-bloated federal civil service has now been brought down from over 100,000 to 69,308 who have been verified and are on the payroll.

Yemi-Esan revealed that apart from the ghost workers who were parading fake employment letters, there was also the issue of some civil servants who “japa” for greener pastures in overseas that were caught napping during the physical verification exercise.

She noted that some individuals who entered the country weeks after the verification exercise had been completed, claiming ignorance of the scheduled physical verification, were allowed a two-week window to undergo the verification.

The Head of Civil Service of the Federation noted that instead of waiting for the extra two weeks, beyond their already extended stay in Nigeria, many individuals opted to resign, as British organizations rarely grant such lengthy periods for verification purposes.