FG to Prosecute 1,500 Workers with Fake Employment Letters

Olawale Ajimotokan

The federal government will prosecute the 1,500 workers caught with fake employment letters for fraud related offence.

The Permanent Secretary Career Management Office, Dr Marcus Olaniyi Ogunbiyi dropped this hint yesterday when he briefed the media after addressing participants of Class A of Directorate level Structured Mandatory Assessment-Based Training Programme (SMAT-P) held at the Public Service Institute of Nigeria (PSIN), Abuja.

He said the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) was already handling the matter according to the law, particularly as some top grade civil servants had been fingered in the job scam.

“The law will take its course. Anybody who has a fake appointment letter will be sent home and will also be prosecuted,” Ogunbiyi said while providing updates on the disclosure by the of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan on the discovery of employment scam in her remarks at the 4th National Policy Dialogue organised by the ICPC.

He warned that attendance of the SMAT-P was mandatory for all six batches of directorate cadre officers, saying sanctions would be meted against those who failed to attend.

“It is a mandatory programme. Anybody who fails to attend the SMAT-P will have to explain why he or she failed to attend. As I said, there will sanctions and consequences for not attending. The Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation is very keen to improve the capability of civil servants such that we can have effective and productive officers in the service. We are not taking it lightly and have put everything in place to ensure that officers are well trained. So we can’t put all these things in place and officers will not come and get trained,” Ogunbiyi warned.