‘47 applicants defrauded of N51.8m in fake C’River LG recruitment’

Forty-seven job seekers in Cross River State's 2024/2025 recruitment exercise reportedly lost N51.8 million in a fraudulent scheme, according to the state's Local Government Service Commission chairman, Eyo Nsa Ekpo. In an interview on Sparkling FM's Let’s Talk Nigeria program, Ekpo detailed the tactics used to swindle the applicants, who were coerced into paying between N100,000 and N1.5 million for fake government positions.

Some higher-level candidates reportedly had to pay up to N1.3 million or N1.5 million. Ekpo's investigation panel discovered that the fraudsters provided fraudulent employment letters to the victims after receiving their payments. The chairman also claimed that some officials manipulated the recruitment process to favor their relatives, some of whom were not even residents of the state.

After hearing testimonies from the victims, the panel verified their evidence, leading to the identification of those involved in the scheme for potential prosecution and the imposition of sanctions. The fraudulent recruitment exercise was canceled by the state government, but 821 of the applicants were retained. A new, transparent recruitment process will commence in two weeks, with the names of successful candidates and the retained workers to be publicly released.