How We Uncovered Employment Racketeers – Lai Mohammed

Agency report

Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed has revealed how racketeers swindled many unsuspected job seekers, promising to give them phantom jobs.

The minister was addressing members of the Senate Committee on Culture and Tourism on the challenge of employment racketeers in his ministry and parastatal agencies.

“When I came in, we were able to uncover a number of cartels engaging in unlawful employment.

“They gave bank account details which their victims paid huge sum of money into and after the payment they issued them with letters of employment.

“They even camped some of them in hotels for capturing into Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System.

“In fact, in a particular organisation, a level 17 Officer was involved in this racketeering, but unfortunately he is late now.

“When we discovered this, we swung into action to get to the bottom and get some of them arrested.

“We are still on it and even some of them have taken us to court,’’ he said.

Mohammed further told the committee that the ministry was committed to fighting the challenge of ghost workers and assured of bringing the perpetrators to book.

He said he had directed all the parastatal agencies under the ministries to submit their nominal rolls and anyone that failed to do so would have itself to blame for non-payment of its workers’ salaries from January 2017.

The minister then informed the lawmakers that there was the need to revisit and review the concept of budgeting on overhead cost. He particularly noted certain ministries like Information and Culture.

hairman of the Committee Sen. Mathew Urhoghide said the National Assembly will soon incorporate Tourism in the nomenclature of the Ministry because of the huge importance of the sector to the nation’s economy.

“This is the aspect we are looking at as parliament, as a Senate, and we believe, too it’s going to add value, particularly in our quest to improve on our revenue base in Nigeria.