Over 500 “illegal employees” of the Ministry of Labor and Employment have been fired by the federal government.
Weeks before the 2019 elections, the allegedly affected individuals were working for the ministry without receiving a waiver from the federation’s office of the head of the civil service.
The employees were fired, according to an internal memo signed by the ministry’s director of human resource management, Hussain Abdallah Rahman, and acquired by TheCable, because a committee refused to accept them onto the platform for the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System.
The IPPIS being a platform under the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation is being used for payment of salaries directly to government employees’ bank accounts with appropriate deductions and remittances of third-party payments.
The IPPIS has also been a bone of contention between the Academic Staff Union of Universities and the Federal Government, with the former coming up another payment system known as the University Transparency and Accountability Solution.
In the circular, AbdallahRahman noted that the non-compliance with the directive of the HoS by the Ministry of Labour during the employment process was the main cause of the sacking of the workers.
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The circular further directed the affected workers to return all government properties in their care to their respective unit heads.
“With reference to the letter from the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation Ref. No. NICSF/PS/CMO/IPPIS/S.2/VOLT dated September 5, 2022, on the above subject, I am directed to inform the under-listed persons that the Committee on Enrolment of New Employees into the IPPIS platform did not process their enrolment.
“Furthermore, the recruitment exercise was carried out without waiver from its office.
“All affected persons are hereby requested to immediately return any government property or properties in their possession to the heads of department/unit,” the circular, dated December 29, 2022, read.
It was also gathered that according to a top source in the ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the affected staff were those who paid for employment slots, adding that the sacked workers, while some were given the IPPIS numbers and proper identification, others were not.
The spokesperson for the ministry, Olajide Osundun, said the ministry resolved to release the affected employees after their employment couldn’t be legalised.
“The ministry had no option now, but to ask the 512 to leave because they were not captured for salary. They haven’t been paid salary since the time they were given the employment letters. The summary of it was the appointment was illegal.
“There is nothing to do to correct illegality. The present administration in the ministry has no other thing to do after making several failed overtures than for them to leave,” he told TheCable.
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