FCE, Yola in recruitment scandal after offering jobs to 1,000 ‘paying applicants’

No fewer than 1,000 applicants were reported to have been offered employment letters by authorities of the Federal College of Education (FCE), Yola, in November 2020, after successfully scaling through a recruitment process.

But almost two years after, and despite collecting employment letters, their fate has remained uncertain, PRNigeria has learnt.

The entire 1,000 applicants offered jobs by FCE, Yola, presently, do not know their employment status, PRNigeria investigation further revealed.

Most of those who were offered employment letters were allegedly charged different amounts of money, ranging from N800,000 to N1,000,000 per employment slot, by a ‘job recruitment syndicate’ within the College, it was learnt.

But since then, the applicants are yet to receive further information from the institution two years after documentation, and issuance of staff identification cards.

Some of the victims lamented that they resigned from their previous places of work to take up the employment offer by the institution, only to be left without an alternative source of income for close to two years.

“We were offered employment by the College. We did all the necessary documentation and collected our identity card and we were told to wait for data capturing by the IPPIS.

“That was since November 2020. As we speak, we are yet to be captured. We don’t even know the fate of our employment,” one of the female victims said.

A former Acting Registrar and currently, the Director, Special Duties, of the College, Alhaji Yahya Hammanyaji Jada, who signed the employment letters, is alleged not to have followed the due employment procedure.

It was further learnt that Alhaji Jada had no waiver from the federal government to employ additional staff for the College.

But when contacted by PRNigeria, the former Registrar described reports on the employment racketeering at the College as “mere allegations”.

He, however, and ‘surprisingly’ admitted thereafter that he issued employment letters to some persons, but whose exact number he refused to disclosed to PRNigeria.

“We issued employment letters quite alright. It’s not a secret,” Jada said.

But a source in Adamawa State, who asked not to be named, said several staff of the College were invited by different security agencies in the State for questioning on suspected cases of fake employment offers and racketeering.

It was also learnt that the College Governing Council invited the former Registrar, Yahya Hammanyaji Jada, on the employment scandal and directed him to work with the Acting Provost, Johnson Blo Malgwa, to resolve the employment anomaly.

However, it is alleged that the College management was yet to take any concrete action on the directives of the College Governing Council, in addressing the employment scandal.

Efforts by PRNigeria to reach the Acting Provost of the College, Mr. Johnson Malgwa, proved abortive as his number could not be reached, at press time.

But a management staff of the College, who refused to give his name because he was not mandated to speak with the press, told PRNigeria that contrary to claims in the public domain, both the school’s Governing Council and management board had since investigated the alleged racketeering ‘scandal’, while reviewing the recruitment exercise conducted.

“It was true that successful applicants got their employment letters, since 2020. The school has even completed documentation for them, specifically in November 2020.

“But I can tell you, certainly, that the entire recruitment process followed due process, credible and in line with Federal Character.

“It was not a case of employment racketeering, at all. Those who were employed, to the best of my knowledge, did not pay any dime. The process was very transparent, and credible.

“But while they are yet to resume up till now is just because of the delay we are still having with IPPIS.

“Not until their relevant data are all captured by the IPPIS, they cannot resume work, even with their appointment letters,” he said.

Meanwhile, PRNigeria gathered that disturbed by the recruitment scandal, the College Governing Council has invited the former Acting Registrar for questioning on the employment scandal. (PRNigeria)