The ongoing verification of civil and public servants in Delta State has exposed the sharp practices resorted to by some employees to secure their jobs and to remain on the state’s payroll after attaining retirement age.
The chairman of the Delta State Civil Service Commission, Roseline Amioku, said she had lost count of public servants working with fake certificates, age falsification and others in the state.
She said, “There was a woman who used her daughter’s certificate and even got promoted with it. When I saw the certificate and looked at her, I said, madam, this isn’t your certificate. Be honest, or you’ll go to jail for falsification and impersonation.
“At first, she denied it, saying she wrote the primary six examination herself. I called the chief medical director of the hospital and requested police intervention. She broke down and confessed, saying my daughter was offered the job, but she refused it. So, I took it instead. I told her, write your resignation letter. Since you have confessed, I won’t dismiss you. She wrote it (resignation letter) and I endorsed it,” Amioku said.
Amioku revealed this during an interaction with the management staff of the Delta Printing and Publishing Corporation (DPPC), publishers of The Pointer Newspaper, led by the general manager, Mrs Rosemary Nwaebuni.
She said the verification was not designed to witch-hunt anyone but to ensure that people were doing the right thing. She remarked that the exercise had exposed her to the cheating mechanisms adopted by some desperate workers.
According to her, it is unfair to the government and children when parents stay in service forever, depriving the younger generation from getting jobs.
“We’ve gotten approval from the highest authorities to do this work, so they can’t petition us to that same authorities. As for the court, we are prepared, because what we are doing is transparent and open. We are even keeping the files of those we suspect might go to court.
“We follow ‘Rule 12’. If you have a genuine birth certificate or an old baptismal card, we accept them. I’m a Catholic, so I can tell an authentic Catholic baptismal card. Some are now submitting fake ones. This screening has revealed a lot to me,” she said.
On her experience, Amioku said it had been very good and revealing. “We are gradually discovering a lot about them. And I’m happy that I have been put in this kind of situation where I can get firsthand information about workers in the state.
“We are using eagle eyes to spot a lot of things. You will be surprised at the rate we’re identifying and catching those who falsify their age. Some of the affidavits they submit look so genuine, you’d think they’re being honest. But once you dig into the nitty-gritty of their files, especially the confidential files, what they claim and what’s inside are completely different.
“Let me give you one example. Someone came here claiming to have been born in 1974. When we calculated the timeline; when he finished primary school, and all that. We told him: You couldn’t have finished primary school at age 9. Why are you claiming this?
“I told the man, this is not your age. There’s no way you could have graduated from primary school at 10. This affidavit is not your own. Tell me your real age so I can help you. Eventually, he opened up by saying, ‘my sister, honestly, I was born in 1960’. I said, so you added 14 years to your age? At the end of the day, I told him; look, you might not pay back for the years you’ve illegally worked, but go and retire quietly.
“A few days ago, we told a woman to bring her class register to prove her age. She brought a forged one. Someone had removed a name and inserted hers, photocopied it, and brought it. As soon as I saw it, I said, you’ll go to jail for this. I told her, Tell me the headmaster who gave you this register. I need to sue him now. She started begging: please, retire me.
”There are numerous challenges. For example, in an agency, we caught people printing certificates. We saw three fake certificates a few days ago. They’ve been dismissed; they’re begging now. Incidentally, two of them were employed in 2023 with fake certificates.
“All the certificates collected will be verified. As for the false First School Leaving Certificate, we’ve seen so many cases. I’ve lost count of. They are in the 100s. We are compiling reports. What we do here is instant judgment. As soon as we find a discrepancy, we remove the person from the payroll. The payroll master and the computer are both with us right here. So, we do it immediately.
“They broke service rules, some may have to refund salaries earned illegally. If you knew you were supposed to retire and didn’t and then we pay you retirement benefits, that means we are clapping for you because what you did was right,” Amioku said.
