“What is happening at the commission is nothing but corruption and fraud,” said a staff member of the commission, who said he was outraged by the sale of jobs. He added: “Imagine, those who were shortlisted are not been contacted. Rather, people who never applied or sat for interviews are being issued with employment letters at N700,000, N800,000 and N900,000 depending on their power of negotiation.”
An investigation by SaharaReporters has revealed that several top civil servants and political figures in Delta State are involved in a fraudulent scheme by the state’s civil service commission. The fraud entails the sale of civil service jobs to desperate job seekers for as much as N1.5 million each.
Our investigators discovered the sale of employment slots began several weeks ago. Initially, slots were being sold for between N700,000 and N900,000, but skyrocketed to N1.5 million as hordes of job seekers scrambled for the few, though undisclosed, number of available jobs.
As far back as 2013, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan had given the civil service commission the go-ahead to recruit workers. The commission required applicants to purchase application forms at N2,000 each in the form of bank drafts. The rest of the employment process was then to be completed online via an Internet site created by the commission.
However, public outcry over the fraud-ridden process led Mr. Uduaghan to prohibit the sale of employment forms, to shut the website, and to refund fees to applicants who had paid. SaharaReporters learned that the commission never carried out the governor’s order to refund fees.
In March this year, the commission released the names of about 2,000 applicants shortlisted to be interviewed at the commission's headquarters in Asaba, the state capital.
However, several sources in the state told SaharaReporters that, instead of issuing employment letters to successful shortlisted applicants, the commission began to sell job slots to the highest bidders, most of them people who were not shortlisted for the jobs.
“What is happening at the commission is nothing but corruption and fraud,” said a staff member of the commission, who said he was outraged by the sale of jobs. He added: “Imagine, those who were shortlisted are not been contacted. Rather, people who never applied or sat for interviews are being issued with employment letters at N700,000, N800,000 and N900,000 depending on their power of negotiation.”
Our sources said the fraud was being perpetrated with the knowledge of the board. An infuriated state employee said, “I can mention categorically the names of those involved in this racket. They include the commission's chairman, Mr. Tetsola Emmanuel, Mrs. Tialobi Roseline, Tuedon Richard, Mr. Andrew Akanigha, Pastor Ifeanyi Agbeyeke—who areall members of the board of the commission. And then there are Mr. Jerry Agbaike, the Permanent Secretary, and other directors. They are all perpetrating this evil and denying Deltans their opportunity of gainful employment.”
Our sources disclosed that a senior administrative officer, Eboh Goddey Oghenero, acts as the front for the commission's chairman, board members and directors in their corrupt scheme to sell employment opportunities.
A newly employed female employee told SaharaReporters that one of her friends bought a job slot for N1.5 million. “After paying the money, within three days an employment letter was issued to him and he was posted to a ministry,” she said.
One source at the commission revealed that at least 15 applicants paid money into Mr. Oghenero's bank account in Fidelity Bank with account number 6050871390. The payments ranged from N750, 000 to N1.5 million, according to the finding by our investigative team.
Some outraged staff at the commission said the officials should be challenged to provide the original list of shortlisted job applicants as well as the list of those that have been issued letters of appointment. “You’ll see that the two lists are different,” one commission official said.
Contacted by one of our citizen reporters, the chairman of the commission, Mr. Tetsola Emmanuel, denied the sale of employment slots. But the correspondent reported that Mr. Emmanuel was visibly shaking and looked dazed. When asked follow-up questions, he was unable to offer any coherent answers.
An undercover reporter contacted Mr. Oghenero, posing as a prospective applicant. Mr. Oghenero then gave the reporter the same account details in Fidelity Bank, instructing the reporter to deposit the sum of N1.5 million and thereafter forward his personal and academic details to Mr. Oghenero’s mobile phone number. Mr. Oghenero also asked the undercover reporter to come in three days for his appointment letter.
“Just do all I have told you, I have given you the account details already,” the reporter quoted Mr. Oghenero as saying. According to the reporter, the rogue administrative officer also reassured him by showing a list of people who had paid and had received their appointment letters and posts. He said Mr. Oghenero added, “Don’t be scared that you didn’t purchase the form before or come for the interviews. Once you pay, you get your appointment letter.”
The undercover reporter said Mr. Oghenero identified himself as “a senior admin officer.” He added that the front in the employment scam asserted that the commission’s board chairman, directors, and board commissioners “are aware of the payments. We just front for them and after payment we get our own cut. In most cases I deal directly with my madam, Mrs. Tialobi Roseline, the first commissioner in the board who will perfect the appointment letters at the receipt of the cash. As I told you, it’s a secret deal which the commission is fully involved [in].”
Our sources at the commission as well as some applicants who were earlier shortlisted have urged Governor Uduaghan to set up a panel to investigate the fraud at the commission. “His Excellency, Dr. Uduaghan should probe what has been going on. And anybody found wanting should be made to face the music,” an angry commission staff told SaharaReporters.