The Federal Government has revealed no fewer than 3,657 civil servants have been dragged before the Independent and Corrupt Practices and related offences Commission (ICPC) over failure to get verified on the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS).
The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HCSF), Dr Folashade Yemi-Esan, disclosed this when she appeared on the weekly ministerial media briefing, organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Yemi-Esan, who was accompanied to the briefing by other senior officials of the Federal Civil Service, also revealed that a total of 61,446 civil servants in the core ministries, departments and agencirs (MDAs) have already been verified, adding another 1,618 applicants were found to have used illegal or fake letters while 874 officers have been suspended from IPPIS platform.
She noted about N180 million is being saved on a monthly basis and about N2 billion annually from the implementation of the IPPIS.
She also assured the payment platform can accommodate the salaries of university lecturers who have since rejected it in preference for University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) which is yet to pass relevant integrity tests.
Notwithstanding the excitement which greeted the reported abolition of the dichotomy between holders of HND and their counterparts with BSc, the office of the Head of Civil Service, said it is not in receipt of any correspondence transmitted to it from the National Assembly on the issue.
This is coming several months after a Bill seeking a perpetual end to the dichotomy between the university degrees of Bachelor’s of Arts/Science, BA/BSc and the Higher National Diplomas, HNDs awarded by polytechnics was passed into law in the House of Representatives.
The Federal Government had said that the controversy surrounding the dichotomy between the Bsc and HND holders cannot be ended by fiat, despite the intervention of the national assembly, especially the House Of Representatives.
Titled: “A Bill for an Act to Abolish and Prohibit Dichotomy and Discrimination between First Degree and Higher National Diploma in the Same Profession/Field for the Purpose of Employment; and for Related Matters”, the bill was read for the third time which was the final stage of the law-making process at plenary.
The next stage would be concurrence with the Senate before it will be transmitted for presidential assent.
