No fewer than 47 applicants have allegedly lost more than N51.8 million to individuals who promised to secure local government jobs for them in Cross River State.
The Chairman of the Cross River State Local Government Service Commission, Nsa Ekpo, disclosed this on Monday while speaking with journalists in Calabar.
Ekpo said an investigative panel set up by the state government to probe the 2024/2025 local government recruitment exercise found that the affected applicants paid between N100,000 and N1.5 million for purported appointments.
“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.
According to him, applicants seeking senior positions allegedly paid the highest amounts, with some reportedly paying N1.3 million and N1.5 million.
He added that some victims were issued documents presented as employment letters, leading them to believe they had secured appointments into the local government service.
The investigation also uncovered alleged attempts to manipulate the recruitment process by influencing the inclusion of relatives and other individuals who did not meet the stipulated requirements.
Ekpo said the probe was launched following complaints from members of the public, prompting the state government to constitute a panel to investigate the recruitment exercise.
He explained that 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.
The chairman said the government was taking steps to identify individuals allegedly linked to the irregularities for questioning and, where necessary, prosecution or other lawful sanctions.
Following the findings of the panel, the 2024/2025 local government recruitment exercise was cancelled.
However, Ekpo clarified that not all candidates from the annulled exercise would be required to reapply.
He said 821 candidates from the cancelled 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 him, the new exercise will involve the recruitment of 4,000 personnel into the state’s local government service.
Ekpo assured prospective applicants that the recruitment would be conducted transparently and would not be commercialised.
He added that the final list of successful candidates, including the 821 applicants retained from the previous exercise, would be published as part of measures to ensure transparency.
