UNIMAID says those who pay to secure jobs should find ways to recover it

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BY IBRAHIM ABDULHAMID, SEPTEMBER 14, 2021

The University of Maiduguri has absolved itself from responsibility in a job racketeering scandal reported in the media.

It said that those who bought the appointments as alleged in report published in many papers should take every step open to them to recover their monies.

Prof. Danjuma Gambo, the university's spokesman in a statement Tuesday night said the university 'did not officially authorize the issuance of fresh appointments to anyone for the current enrollment exercise to the IPPIS.'

He said the enrollment is only for those who were offered employment last year, 'who had earlier been properly screened and issued with duly cleared appointment letters.'

A number of those given the appointments last year were not captured in the system when the offer was given to them.

PRNigeria earlier published a widely lifted report in which it alleged that jobs were sold at between N1 million and N1.5 million by officials in the offices of the vice chancellor and the registrar.

Prof. Gambo's statement did not respond to the confusions and concerns that mire up the enrollment exercise, which started last Friday.

The potential enrollees who have their appointments since last year are also among many who raised fears that they may end up not getting captured.

Some of them have said that their serial numbers are skipped, when names were called out from a list, making them to wonder what criteria is used in arriving at the list.

The allegation is that only those who have 'godfathers' and some 'connections' are being enrolled, some of them told this paper. Yet, others alleged that the IPPIS team are in the univeristy mainly to capture certain people, who have 'connections', an allegation YERWA EXPRESS NEWS could not confirm.

Our reporter was denied access into the premises of Muhammadu Buhari Senate Building where the exercise was going on by the security guards at the entrance, despite identifying himself as a journalist.

Union leaders in the university who spoke to YERWA EXPRESS NEWS also said they do not have access to the list and even though they did not speak about job racketeering, they did not rule out the possibility of fake appointments in circulation.

Mustapha M. Ngoshe, the chairman Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, UNIMAID chapter, on telephone, told YERWA EXPRESS NEWS that they had received all the complaints and forwarded them to office of vice chancellor, Prof. Aliyu Shugaba.

According to Mustapha, the VC promised to look into the complaints, to ensure that those 'with genuine appointments' get captured.

He said the union is not aware of the lists or their contents. As such, he said he could not comment on the number of people to be captured.

A source in the management told this paper that the management has instituted an investigation into the allegations of the job racketeering.

In line with this, some top officials of the university have been barred from accessing their offices, the source who did not want to named said, adding that a circular will be out soon. YERWA EXPRESS NEWS is not, for editorial considerations, naming the said officials and their offices, pending the official confirmation from the management.


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