News
390,676 Civil Servants, 559 MDAs Captured In IPPISS, FG Confirms
A total number of 390,676 civil servants in 559 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) have been captured on the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPISS) platform as of January 31, 2021, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan, has said.
She made the disclosure at a press briefing in Abuja as part of activities to kick-start the 2021 Nigeria Civil Service Week, yesterday.
The Federal Government had in 2006 introduced the IPPIS to weed out ghost workers from the civil service and automate salary payments for transparency and accountability in public expenditure.
In October, 2019, the Federal Government directed workers in its MDAs to enroll on IPPIS.
Recalled the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had last year gone on strike over the Federal Government insistence that its members enroll in IPPIS
Only last week, the salaries of 331 civil servants cutting across all were suspended over their failure to update their records on IPPIS despite repeated directives to do so.
According to Yemi-Esan, 390,676 staff across the 559 MDAs have now been captured on the platform.
She added that the figure excludes the army, paramilitary, police, and universities.
“As of 31st January, 2021, a total number of 559 MDAs with 390,676 employees have been captured on the IPPIS platform. This figure excludes the Army, para-military, police and universities.
“Accordingly, several activities have been initiated and carried out by the office towards driving, implementing and deployment of the Human Resource module of IPPIS.
“With full deployment of the HR Module of IPPIS, human error would be minimized through streamlined data, cost reduced based on available accurate data, financial and manpower resources efficiently and effectively utilized and planned for; while storage of data collected on employees of the Federal Public Service is secure and only accessible to authorized officers.”
Speaking further, Yemi-Esan said the civil service took advantage of Covid-19 to accelerate the digitalisation of its processes to enable it “continue to function effectively as the backbone of government within the new normal”.
Yemi-Esan also disclosed that the process of reviewing the nation’s Public Service Rules was almost completed, saying it is ready for the approval of the Federal Executive Council.
“The office, in the last one year, has finalised the review of the PSR and it has presented to the 2020 National Council on Establishment in Lagos which approved the revised document in principle.
“The office has produced the final draft for onward transmission to the Federal Executive Council for approval,” she said.
According to her the government has spent N2.4billion in settling 594 families of deceased civil servants while outstanding death benefits will be paid soon.
Yemi-Esan added, “Sometimes last year, the Ministry of Finance released N2.5billion to pay backlog of death benefits to the next of kin of deceased officers.
“As of today, out of N2.5billion, N2.468billion has been expended to settle 594 beneficiaries.
“The others that are outstanding will be completed once the office receives the requisite bank’s attestation.”
Yemi-Esan said a committee would soon be set up on the Steve Orasanye report on rationalisation of government agencies.
“As regards the Orosanye report, the SGF and I have planned to set up two committees to look into the report.
“We are going to look at what happened before the Oransanye report and after the Oransanye report,” she said.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has indicted a new generation bank, six Fintechs and some microfinance banks in major financial scams by allowing fraudsters to launder huge sums of money.
Director of public Affairs of the Commission, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, made this known at a press briefing at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja, yesterday.
According to him, the compromised institutions allegedly allowed cryptocurrency transactions worth N162 billion to pass through without proper due diligence within the 2024/2025 financial year.
He said that the financial institutions clearly compromised banking procedures and allowed the fraudsters to safely change their ill-gotten gains into digital assets and move them to safe destinations.
“A total sum of N18.1 billion was moved through the financial system without due diligence of customers by the banks.
“It is worrisome that investigations by the commission showed that cryptocurrency transactions to the tune of N162 billion passed through a new generation bank without any due diligence.
“Investigations showed that a single customer maintained 960 accounts in another new bank and all the accounts were used for fraudulent purposes.
“That is bad news but the good news is that following our intervention the commission has been able to recover N33.62 million, which has been returned to some of the victims.”
He explained that the scams were in two categories, adding that the first was a syndicate of fraudsters that employed an airline discount scheme to lure their victims.
He said that they advertised a discount system for the purchase of flight tickets of a particular foreign carrier.
“The payment module is designed in such a way that the victims’ payment is actually made into the account of the airline.
“After payment is made the passenger’s entire funds in his bank account are emptied.
“Investigations showed that more than 700 victims have been scammed so far, with a loss of N651 million,” he said.
According to him, investigations show that the scheme is being masterminded by a foreign national; the commission has so far recovered and released N33 million to victims of the fraud.
He said that another scheme involved a company named Fred and Farid Investment Limited, simply called FF investment, which lured Nigerians into a bogus investment arrangement.
“More than 200, 000 victims have been defrauded in this regard. A total sum of N18 billion was raked in through nine companies offering diverse investment packages.
“The companies are: Credio Banco Limited; Deliberty Rock Limited; Liam Chumeks Global Service; Ngwuoke Daniels Technology; and Icons Autos and Import Merchant.
“Others are : Newpace Technology Services Limited, Primepath Ways Ventures Limited, Kaka Synergy Network Limited and Sunlight Tech Hub Services Limited.”
He said that foreign nationals were behind the schemes, while there are three Nigerian accomplices who have been arrested and charged to court.
He said that the masterminds were on the run and efforts are being made to bring them to book.
“The Commission is calling on regulatory bodies to bring financial institutions to compulsory compliance with regulations in the areas of Know Your Customers (KYC), Customer Due Diligence (CDD), Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) and others.
“Deposit Money Banks, Fintechs, Micro Finance Banks found to be aiding and abetting fraudsters should be suspended and referred to the EFCC for thorough investigation and possible prosecution.
“Negligence and failure to monitor suspicious and structured transactions by banks should no longer be allowed,” he said.
While cautioning members of the public to be wary of these actors, he said that the EFCC would continue its works against money laundering by fraudulent actors.
Uwujaren urged financial institutions to firm up their operational dynamics and save the nation leakages and compromises bleeding the economy.
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