No fewer than 47 applicants lost more than ₦51.8 million to fraudsters who allegedly promised them local government jobs in Cross River State, an investigative panel has found.
Nsa Ekpo, Chairman of the Cross River Local Government Service Commission, disclosed this while fielding questions from journalists in Calabar.
Ekpo said the victims paid between ₦100,000 and ₦1.5 million after being deceived into believing they could secure appointments into the state’s local government service by making payments.
“The panel found out that as many as 47 victims were cajoled, frightened, and intimidated to part with over ₦51.8 million for fake local government jobs,” he said.
He said applicants seeking senior positions were allegedly the worst affected, with some paying as much as ₦1.3 million and ₦1.5 million for appointments that did not exist.
According to Ekpo, the alleged fraudsters reinforced the deception by issuing fake employment letters to victims, giving them the impression that their appointments had been secured.
He said the recruitment process was also allegedly manipulated, with some individuals attempting to insert family members into the list, including people who did not reside in Cross River.
Panel uncovers recruitment irregularities
Ekpo said the revelations followed complaints from members of the public, prompting the state government to constitute a panel to investigate the 2024/2025 local government recruitment exercise.
He said the panel relied substantially on information and evidence provided by whistleblowers.
“Many of these victims came to open up and submitted evidence which the panel verified,” he said.
“We had guaranteed all whistleblowers security and confidentiality if they came up with evidence.”
The chairman said the government was working to identify people allegedly involved in the irregularities for questioning, prosecution and other appropriate sanctions.
He said the findings had led to the cancellation of the 2024/2025 recruitment exercise.
Ekpo, however, clarified that some candidates from the cancelled exercise would not be required to participate in the recruitment process again.
He said 821 candidates from the annulled exercise had been cleared and would be retained, while other genuinely qualified applicants would be considered in a fresh recruitment exercise.
Fresh recruitment to begin within two weeks
According to Ekpo, the new recruitment exercise is expected to begin within two weeks and will target 4,000 positions in the state’s local government service.
He assured prospective applicants that the process would follow due procedure and would not be commercialised.
The chairman also said the final list of successful candidates, including the 821 people retained from the previous exercise, would be published to promote transparency.
He urged prospective applicants to rely on official channels for information about the recruitment process and avoid paying individuals who claim they can secure government appointments.
The development comes amid renewed efforts by the state government to clean up the local government recruitment process following allegations of fraud and manipulation in the previous exercise.
