ICPC launches probe into job racketeering

The Chairman of the House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee, Yusuf Gagdi, submitted a petition to the Independent Corrupt Practises and Other Related Offences Commission requesting an investigation into a job racketeering case.

This was revealed by the anti-corruption commission in a statement released on Friday and signed by Mrs. Azuka Ogugua, who also noted that the petition it received was from the online daily Premium Times.

The statement stated, “The Independent Corrupt Practises and Other Related Offences Commission has commenced investigation into petitions received from Premium Times and Hon. Yusuf Adamu Gagdi, Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Ad-Hoc Committee on the Investigation of Job Racketeering and Gross Mismanagement in Federal Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, over bribery allegations against the probe panel.”

Recall that the Federal Character Commission’s former desk officer, Haruna Kolo, had a warrant for her arrest issued by the House of Representatives.

Earlier, the House Committee looking into employment racketeering in Ministries, Departments, and Agencies was accused of receiving payments from the Committee of Vice Chancellors of Federal Universities in order to bribe its members.

At a panel hearing on Friday, the vice chancellors stated that they put money into a specific account to obtain some foreign currencies they needed for their trip.

When the vice chancellors testified before the committee, Prof. Ishaya Tanko, the vice chancellor of the University of Jos, said that the funds sent by some of the vice chancellors were intended for foreign exchange so that they could travel to Birmingham, England, to attend an international workshop that had been organised for them beginning on Tuesday, September 5.

He stated, “At our most recent meeting, we asked for an extension of two weeks because some of the universities had failed to bring all of the requisite documentation.

“But we read the extremely upsetting media report, and I can say that the vice chancellors are not associated with that. No one has received a bribe from the vice chancellors.

“What I recalled happened was that the next day there was a workshop for the vice-chancellors and because there is another international workshop organised for the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities, I recalled that a number of people were looking for estacode in the form of foreign exchange that will enable them to travel,” the author recalled.

Tanko continued, “We are looking forward to this committee wrapping up its work so that the issues surrounding employment at Nigerian colleges are solved so that we can continue to supply the quality personnel we need for the growth of this country.