The Federal Government has in the past year identified and removed 1,618 officers from the Civil Service, who were found to have illegal and fake employment letters.
These individuals have been deleted from the Integrated Personnel Payroll and Information System (IPPIS). This revelation was made by Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, Head of Civil Service of the Federation, during a media parley in Abuja as part of the ‘2024 Civil Service Week’ celebrations.
The event’s theme was: “Education for an African Fit for the 21st Century: Building Resilient Education Systems for Increased Access to Inclusive, Lifelong, Quality and Relevant Learning in Africa”.
Dr. Yemi-Esan explained that through physical verification conducted by various Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), the federal civil service workforce has been reduced from over 100,000 to 69,308 verified employees. She highlighted that, in addition to those with fake employment letters, the verification exercise also identified civil servants who had “japa” (emigrated) for greener pastures abroad but returned briefly for the verification process.
Some of these individuals, who returned to Nigeria after the scheduled verification exercise had concluded, were given a two-week grace period to complete the process. However, many opted to resign rather than wait for the additional two weeks, as their employers abroad were unlikely to grant such an extended leave.
Addressing the issue of corruption, Dr. Yemi-Esan stated that her office is working closely with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to eliminate corrupt practices within the civil service.
Dr. Yemi-Esan also discussed ongoing efforts to digitize the Federal Civil Service, aiming for full digital transformation by the end of 2025. Significant progress has been made in this regard, with many MDAs at various stages of implementing digitalisation programmes.
“From the Service-wide perspective, all MDAs are running with the digitalization programme, and there are different stages of implementation, but they have a mandate for all to achieve full migration by the end of 2025,” she said.
These measures are part of a broader initiative to ensure the Federal Civil Service operates efficiently and transparently, providing high-quality service to Nigerians.
