By; PATRICK TITUS, Uyo
Akwa Ibom State Government has been accused of not declaring open employment into the core civil service in the state since 2015 but investigations have revealed that the government is secretly recruiting employees
Findings also revealed that employees have been resuming in various ministries, departments and agencies in the state without undergoing the any formal employment process.
As at last year, some ministries, departments and agencies received as many as three to five newly employed officers of Salary Grade Level 7 and above, who reported for duty with their letters of first appointment.
Many of them, claimed to have worked briefly in Government House, Uyo before being posted to respective ministries, departments and agencies in the state.
Though the government through the Head of the State Civil Service, Mr. Effiong Essien has denied the development, applicants have come out to accuse the government of insincerity and double standards.
Many of the Commissioners and Permanent Secretaries have feigned ignorance about the recruitment exercise saying they were not privy to any notice or declaration of vacancies.
However, findings revealed that some top government officials and politicians use their connection to secure employment for their cronies while some applicants pay huge amount of money as bribe to some corrupt government officials to secure employment.
The officials, according to applicants who have parted with huge amounts of money to gain employment, received between N200, 000 to N300,000 as bribe.
One of the applicants, Mrs Enobong Akpaah disclosed that she paid N250,000 to a top government official to secure a job but has not gotten the job.
“We are many who have paid money to get civil service job. I paid since April last year. Others who paid have resumed work. I am yet to get my employment letter”, she said.
The investigation further revealed that the new employees are said to have been employed through the connection of top politicians close to the government adding that the approval for employment is usually signed with special biros in distinctive colour.
“We have seen new employees coming for documentations in our office almost daily. They are required to report for documentations, like letter of appointment, certificates and age declaration among others for filing as part of the requirements for eligibility for payroll,” a source close to Head of Civil Service told our reporter.
It was further gathered that the secret employment is not restricted to the State Civil Service but it was also being carried out in the Local Government Service Commission and even federal agencies in the state.
Another source told our Correspondent that “an employee recently came to be registered in our organisation as a professional member and we found out that the person has just been employed by the University.”
Both the Head of Civil Service, Mr Effiong Essien and Chairman, Civil Service Commission, Mrs. Ekereobong Akpan have denied the ongoing secret employment, admitting however, that those being employed were selected from the data bank of those who had earlier responded to its advertised vacancies years back.
Answering questions from journalists recently, Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Comrade Ini Ememobong also denied that the state government was recruiting but did not make any reference to new employees that had reported at the Ministry of Information and Strategy.
