Reps C”ttee Summon Security Chiefs, Intelligence Agencies Others Over Employment Racketeering

By Lateef Taiwo

The House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee currently probing employment racketeering and gross mismanagement of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System,IPPIS, has summoned the Nigerian Army, Navy, Airforce, the Police as well as the Nigerian Financial intelligence Unit, NFIU, among others to appear before it unfailingly Tomorrow by 11a!m.

Chairman of the Committee,Hon Yusuf Gagdi, who issued the summon yesterday during a resumed hearing of the Committee also expressed displeasure over inability of the agencies to appear despite repeated invitations.

Hon. Gagdi, had repeatedly warmed agancies invited by his Commitee against absenteesm promising to invoke relevant section of the law available to the paliament against those shining his Commitee.

“Let me say this to all agencies we have invited, I think we need to read their names clearly here. They are the Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited, Nigerian Broadcasting Commission, the Nigerian Communication Commission, the Nigerian Post Services, the Nigerian frequency management Council, Galaxy backbone, National Identity management Commission, Nigerian Correctional Service, Nigeria Immigration Service, Fire Service, Nigerian Police Force, Defence Intelligence Agency, State Security Service, national Intelligence Agency, Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, Nigerian Army, Nigerian Airforce, Nigerian Navy must appear tomorrow since they have failed to appear today. This is the ruling of the committee,” Gagdi.

Earlier the Accountant General of the Federation has informed the committee that her office is working hard to fish out ghost workers who existed in the system before the introduction of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System,IPPIS.

Responding to question on whether AGoF is aware of some staff who are ghost workers said no adding that only 640 out of over 900 agencies of the Federal Government were captured under the IPPIS.

“As of today we have 640 MDAs registered on the IPPIS, enrolled on the IPPIS, because there are some that are not on the IPPIS like all the security agencies, federal government owned enterprises that generate revenue, they are not on IPPIS. Then self funding agencies are not on IPPIS. Some parastatals that have different arrangements for the payment of their salaries like those that are receiving first line transfers like the National Assembly are not on the IPPIS and so many others like that. So if we put the number of those outside IPPIS, it may get to over 900. Except if an Act of the National Assembly makes it compulsory that all government agencies must be on IPPIS..”

“Having realized that this is a system that needs to be reviewed, on my assumption of duty, I met a series of issues around IPPIS and that made me organize stakeholders with all the service providers around the IPPIS, where the service providers came and made presentations, questions were asked. The stockholders meeting ran for two weeks where all the service providers were scheduled for each day and came with their technical hands while the technical team of the OAGF were also on the ground where we were discussing a series of issues about the system. And after the meeting we further broke down into technical committees where a series of issues identified from the stakeholders meeting were subjected to further discussions. I have just received an interim report of this meeting, which we are looking at to see how we address all the issues that are emanating from this engagement to enable us to take further action on the management of the IPPIS.”

Also speaking during the investigative hearing was a Director of IPPIS, Emma Deko who alleged that some prominent universities in the country are usually send more names than required to be captured under IPPIS system.

“We are all aware of the issue of ASUU. We were told to enrol them and the enrolment did not pass through the normal process because it was an ad+ hoc thing. It was an emergency. They refused to come on board. But when the government persuaded them to come on. We were asked to enrol them without going through the process. So I want to place on record that some of them were given numbers to enrol. To enrol people who were on their payroll prior to that time.

“But in a bid to increase their payroll, some of them enrolled more than what was previously on their payroll. For instance if somebody is told to enrol 1000, they enroll 1, 300 or 1, 4000. And it is only for 1000 that the Budget Office provided money for that would be paid.

“I want to give an instance, the University College Hospital, Ibadan. Our staff went there to enroll what was approved. They were held hostage. They were forced to enrol everybody and you know that to protect themselves, it is only someone who is alive that can come back to tell you the story. So they played and enrolled everybody but when we came back, we had to payroll only what money is provided in the budget.”