…FG’s wage bill doubles from N1.832trn in 2015 to N3.494trn in 2022 – ICPC
…How former JAMB Boss diverted N15m for personal radio license – Witness
By Mohammed Mohammed
The Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye SAN, has said that the meritocratic tradition in the public service which existed to some degree up to the 1980s in Nigeria is gradually disappearing.
The ICPC boss, raised concerns that government wage bill has almost doubled from N1.832trn in 2015 to N3.494trn in 2022.
He underscores that indiscriminate recruitment has negatively impacted personnel budget.
Speaking at a policy dialogue on entrenching transparency in public service recruitment process in the country, organized by the Anti-Corruption Academy of Nigeria (ACAN), the training arm of ICPC, he said the Commission has received 100 petitions on recruitment scam from victim institutions and complicit individuals.
Meanwhile, a Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, on Wednesday was told how the former Registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, allegedly diverted N15 million from the board to set up a personal radio station in his hometown.
The ICPC boss acknowledged that the situation festers due to lack of transparency, adding that there are also associated problem of fake certificates that dog the process thus compounding a bad situation now made worse.
Owasanoye, said: “This is the Fourth in our policy dialogue series since the first one held on April 16, 2019 on: ‘Eradicating Electoral Corruption (Focus on Vote Buying’).
“It may also interest you to know that the second Policy Dialogue which was held on September 11, 2019, focused on ‘Accountability for Security Votes: Preventing Corruption in Security Budgeting without Jeopardizing National Security’.
“And just about a year ago, the third in the Series which was held on May 4, 2021 had robust discussions on ‘Corruption and Cost of Governance in Nigeria’.
“You will agree with me that all these four chosen themes so far are very germane in the fight against corruption and more importantly they contribute towards the attainment of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS) one of whose objectives is promoting an improved legal, policy, and regulatory environment for the fight against corruption.
“It is therefore very heartwarming for me and the entire Commission, that you have created the time out of your busy schedules to be part of this important discussion today. ICPC greatly appreciates this sacrifice.”
He said this policy dialogue and its concomitant policy brief were designed to be part of our key performance indicators in pursuit of the national anti-corruption strategy 2017-2021 of government as well as the policies, programmes and projects audit committee (PPPAC) roadmap (2019-2023) adopted by the government at the commencement of its second term in 2019.
According to him, these twin documents (NACS & PPPAC) require that stakeholders are made part of the ICPC activities in order to achieve one of its objectives stated earlier.
“Indiscriminate recruitment has impacted personnel budget such that government personnel wage bill has continued to rise geometrically almost doubling between 2015 and 2022 from N1.832trn in 2015 to N3.494trn in 2022.
“To underscore the corruption prevalent in the process, ICPC has received and is investigating almost 100 petitions on recruitment scam from victim institutions and complicit individuals. The situation festers due to lack of transparency. There is also the associated problem of fake certificates that dog the process thus compounding a bad situation now made worse.” He said.
Lack of transparency, according to Owasanoye in the recruitment process has been subject of discussions not only in the various mass media organs but also very vociferously in the legislative arms of government across levels.
According to him, some members of the executive arm of government have equally voiced their concerns on the matter, stressing in actual fact, many Nigerians in both official and non-official quarters have expressed serious concerns over the growing patronage system in the public sector.
For example, he said the Governor of Borno State, Prof. Babagana Zulum raised a serious concern that these days the recruitment into the Security Agencies (Nigerian Army, Police and others) has been politicized.
He quoted the governor as saying: “The governors, ministers and other top government functionaries have recruitment slots who are not interviewed whether they are qualified or not.
It does appear to us that the meritocratic tradition in the public service which existed to some degree up to the 80s in our country is gradually disappearing with very few islands of recruitment integrity only remaining.
This is a matter of grave concern that needs to be critically, objectively and robustly discussed in this particular Dialogue Session.
The expectation here is that this policy dialogue session made up of experienced, knowledgeable and diverse stakeholder groups across official and non-official divide would offer a more dispassionate look at this problem which is almost becoming endemic. This endemic feature is not surprising because its driving forces include desperation for stable employment that the public service offers, the abject lack of scrutiny and laxity of the public service employment process, endemic perception of commercialization of service delivery by graft and gratification and systemic corruption.
On the former, JAMB boss, the Prosecution witness, retired Air Commodore Najeem Sanusi, who testified before the trial judge, Justice Obiora Egwuata, of court 9, in the ongoing trial of Ojerinde, told the court that he was given bank drafts of N15 million on the directives of the defendant, to procure a radio license from the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC).
Sanusi was brought before Justice Egwuata, to testify in a 10-count charge of official corruption and abuse of office brought against Ojerinde by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
The witness further told the court that he was a co-owner of Ifelodun Communications limited with the former JAMB boss, who is a leader in their community in Oke-Ogun in Oyo State, with the one million shares of the company split into 500,000 units each for both of them.
Led in evidence by counsel to ICPC, Olubunmi Olugasa, Sanusi who was a former Provost Marshal of the Nigerian Air Force told the court how he approached the former JAMB boss with the proposal to set up a radio station having gotten approval from NBC.
He said, “In 2015 after retirement, I sought a license from the Federal Government. I obtained the form from NBC and went to brief our leader. He welcomed my noble idea. There and then, he called his lawyer, Peter Oyewole to come to his house for a meeting.
‘We agreed in the meeting held in his house that the name of the company should be Ifelodun Communications and we should go ahead and register the company with his name because that is the prerequisite for obtaining a license from NBC.
‘He asked that we should allot 500,000 shares to him and 500,000 to myself. The defendant then called Mr. Jimoh Olabisi who happened to be an accounting staff of JAMB and in a meeting in his house in Maitama, Abuja, he said that any matter related to financial issues should be directed to Mr. Jimoh.
Subsequently, Jimoh gave me bank drafts of N15 million to pay NBC as part of the requirements for obtaining a license. I paid the draft to NBC, gave original documents to Jimoh Olabisi, and kept photocopies of the documents for my records.”
The witness further told the court that the radio station was set up in the personal house of the defendant in the Owode Area of Igboho, Oyo State, saying that station was located in a compound where his late mother also lived and an adjoining plot of land was purchased to accommodate the mast and antenna.
The court further heard how the witness introduced an equipment vendor but the defendant later used his son, Olumide Ojeriende, a serving member of the House of Representatives to procure studio equipment and mast for the radio station.
Documents that included photocopies of the agenda for the meeting held with the defendant to discuss proposals for the setting up of the radio station as well as bank drafts for the license paid to NBC were tendered before the court.
Counsel to Ojerinde, Ibrahim Ishiyaku, SAN, as opposed to the admissibility of the documents, arguing that the prosecution had not laid a proper foundation why the originals or certified true copies of the document could not be presented in court.
ICPC Counsel, Olugasa while citing Section 57 (c) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000, however, prayed the court to admit the documents arguing that they were personal copies of the witness bearing his signatures and records of all the transactions.
The trial judge, after listening to arguments from both parties, adjourned the matter to 7th and 8th June, 2022 for ruling on the admissibility of the documents and continuation of the hearing.