Richard Oghenerhoro, a federal civil servant in Nigeria, is set to face disciplinary action for detecting fake employment in the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing in Abuja and making his finding public.
A Panel headed by Rufus-Ebegba Immaculata, submitted its report to Minister of Works & Housing, Babatunde Fashola and found Oghenerhoro, the whistleblower, guilty of misconduct, breach of oath of secrecy, unauthorised disclosure of official information and copying of official documents, contrary to the provisions of the Public Service Rules, according to Punch.
In the report, the committee noted that one of the civil servants with the fake employment letter noted that, “His uncle got the job for him and had no idea about the status of his letter; he also informed the committee that he has been receiving salary since January, 2020.”
Punch reports that, while the committee noted that the officials with the fake employment letters should be sanctioned, it however noted that the four officials who documented the fake civil servants would be redeployed from the ministry for failing to do their work with due diligence.
The report partly reads: “The Federal Ministry of Works and Housing should immediately stop further payment of salary to the officers with alleged fake letters of appointment and their names forwarded to the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission for further Investigation.
“The Department of Human Resource Management should be directed to ensure that the names of the officers with alleged fake letters of appointment are immediately delisted from the nominal roll, stopped from performing any official duty and their relevant departments duly notified.
“The Deputy Director (Appointment, Promotion and Discipline) be charged with the responsibility of authenticating letters of appointment from the Federal Civil Service Commission.
“The Department of Human Resource Management should be directed to issue preliminary letters to the following officers mentioned in the petition and also redeploy them: Mr Usman Muktar – Principal Executive Officer I (IPPIS) SGL.12; Mr John Omini – Senior Administrative Officer (Appt.) SGL.10; Mr Richard Dokitri – Senior Administrative Officer (Nominal Roll) SGL. 10; and Mrs Eunice Chiobi – Senior Executive Officer (IPPIS) SGL. 09.
“The committee also recommended disciplinary action against the petitioner, Mr Richard Oghenerhoro, over his misconduct, breach of oath of secrecy, unauthorised disclosure of official information and abstraction or copying of official documents without approval as enshrined in Public Service Rules 030301 (f), 030415, 030416 and 030417 respectively.”
The rule recommends termination of appointment or forced retirement for the offences.