How scammers made N51.8m from desperate job seekers – C’River

Cross River Governor, Bassey Otu

The Chairman of the Cross River State Local Government Service Commission, Nsa Ekpo, has explained how about 47 desperate job seekers were scammed of N51.8 million by fraudsters who allegedly sold non-existing local government jobs to them.

Ekpo said the victims were made to pay between N100,000 and N1.5 million after being deceived that the payment would guarantee them appointments into the local government service.

He said, “A panel was set up to investigate the 2024/2025 recruitment exercise when we got some information about irregularities. The panel found out that as many as 47 victims were cajoled and intimidated to part with over N51.8 million for local government jobs that did not exist.

“Applicants for senior positions were the worst hit, with some paying between N1.3 million and N1.5 million for fake jobs.

“The perpetrators reinforced the deception by issuing the victims with fake employment letters, giving them the impression that they had secured government appointments.”

Ekpo further explained that the fraud was compounded by alleged manipulation of the recruitment process, including attempts by some persons to insert family members, including those who do not reside in Cross River, into the list.

The commission Chairman said the panel relied heavily on information provided by whistle-blowers who submitted evidence after being assured of security and confidentiality.

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“Many of these victims came to open up and submitted evidence which the panel verified. We had guaranteed all whistle-blowers security and confidentiality if they came up with evidence,” he said.

Ekpo said the government was working to identify those involved in the scam for prosecution and other sanctions.

He said the 2024/2025 recruitment exercise had been cancelled, but noted that 821 candidates from the annulled process had been cleared and would be retained.

“Other genuinely qualified applicants will be considered in a fresh recruitment exercise expected to commence within two weeks. The new exercise targets the recruitment of 4,000 persons into the state’s local government service commission,” he said.

The chairman assured that the fresh recruitment would not be commercialised.

He added that the final list of successful candidates, including the 821 retained from the previous exercise, would be published to ensure transparency.