Joe Effiong, Uyo
Akwa Ibom State civil service, especially the Education sector, has been taken over by employment syndicate which issues fake appointment letters to unsuspecting and desperate job seekers.
Several arrests have been made by the security agencies following alerts raised by the state government on the issue.
Daily Sun learnt that the syndicate allegedly specialises in issuing fake Appointment letters, on behalf of State Secondary Education Board and the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB).
Commissioner for Education, Prof. Victor Inoka, who confirmed this to the media, said a member of the syndicate, one Okon Amah, has already admitted to collecting huge sums of money, amounting to millions of naira, from unsuspecting job seekers in the state.
Inoka said Amah, who under interrogation, claimed to be a staff member of SUBEB, as a teacher posted to St. Patrick’s Primary School, Idu in Uruan Local Government Area, also claimed to come from two local government areas of Uyo and Onna.
Prof. Inoka also said the suspect has been handed over to the police and advised desperate job-seeking members of the public to be wary of dealing with such syndicate as his ministry or any of its departments and boards will only recruit through the Civil Service Commission, the only body empowered to carry out such exercise.
Employment syndicate, especially in the Education ministry is not new in Akwa Ibom.
Governor Udom Emmanuel, on assumption of office in 2015, cancelled the employment of about 5,000 teachers; many of whom had fake qualifications but were pushed into the system by the syndicate.
State chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Mr. Etim Ukpong, who is also the state chairman of the Nigeria union of Teachers (NUT), was unavailable to react to the development.
But, a senior officer in SUBEB, who asked not to be named, claimed that “some of the so-called fake appointment letters are only fake because the issuers could not pull enough weight. Every employment in Akwa Ibom now is by slot.
“Those who are connected to who-is-who in this state are being employed in every sector, on daily basis, without interview, and they are not talking about merit,” he said.