Nigeria’s President Tinubu orders crackdown on ‘japa’ civil servants

14 hours in the past

In case you depart your job, it could appear logical that your wage would cease being paid, however not so for numerous former Nigerian civil servants.

They’ve managed to be employed elsewhere – typically overseas solely – and but proceed to obtain a wage from their former office.

Information of this has reached the highest and final week President Bola Tinubu ordered a crackdown.

“The culprits should be made to refund the cash they’ve fraudulently collected,” he mentioned.

Sabitu Adams, whose identify we have now modified to guard his id, has not resigned from his place as a junior official at a authorities company and nonetheless will get paid every month, regardless of leaving Nigeria two years in the past.

He now works as a taxi driver within the UK, however instructed the BBC that he was not nervous about dropping the wage as he sees Mr Tinubu’s feedback as an empty risk.

Mr Adams added that the lack of his month-to-month Nigerian wage of 150,000 naira ($100; £80) wouldn’t be an incredible hardship, as he earns much more driving a taxi.

“After I heard concerning the president’s directive, I smiled as a result of I do know I’m doing higher right here – and never nervous,” the 36-year-old mentioned.

However why not make it clear to the civil service that he had left?

“To be sincere I didn’t resign as a result of I needed to go away that door open in case I select to return to my job after just a few years.”

Like Mr Adams, greater than 3.6 million Nigerians have relocated to different international locations during the last two years, in response to official statistics.

Many younger Nigerians see little prospect of incomes dwelling within the nation – a sense exacerbated by the collapse within the worth of the naira over the previous 12 months following the reforms launched by Mr Tinubu since he grew to become president.

It has change into so frequent for younger folks to hunt their fortunes outdoors the nation, the time period “japa” has been coined to explain the phenomenon.

It’s a phrase from the Yoruba language that means to flee or flee.

Mr Tinubu mentioned he was “struck by the revelations the pinnacle of the civil service shared concerning staff who had relocated overseas whereas drawing salaries with out formally resigning”.

The president mentioned that not solely ought to the cash be repaid however those that had been complicit in permitting it to occurred must be investigated too.

“Their supervisors and division heads should even be punished for aiding and abetting the fraud beneath their watch,” he mentioned.

And this will have been the case for Mr Adams.

The UK-based taxi driver admitted that he continued to be paid because of these in his division: “I had understanding with my boss and he simply let me depart.”

Typically in such circumstances the wage is split between the supervisor who retains quiet and the individual being paid, possibly together with an HR consultant.

However for Mr Adams it was even simpler. “In my case it wasn’t like that as my boss was a relative.”

So-called “ghost-working” is a significant downside in Nigeria. Regardless of a number of crackdowns it’s believed that 1000’s of non-existent employees are nonetheless being paid. There look like only a few checks and balances in place.

However that is the primary time it has been urged that individuals who have moved overseas are persevering with to be paid their salaries on a big scale.

Auwal Yakasai, who retired as a director in command of finance at Kano state’s info ministry in 2021, mentioned he had heard of such circumstances.

”To be sincere I’ve by no means caught anybody red-handed,” Mr Yakasai, who labored for the federal government for 32 years, instructed the BBC.

“However I’ve heard quite a few tales of such preparations, the place somebody would nonetheless be receiving [a] wage after relocating or altering their place of business.”

Since he took workplace in Might final 12 months, Mr Tinubu has pledged to scale back the price of governance and minimize wastage.

In January, he directed that every one official entourages to state and worldwide occasions for himself and different authorities officers be slashed by 60%.

Nonetheless some have famous that there’s a lot speak in Mr Tinubu’s administration with out a lot motion.

They cite plans to purchase new planes value tens of millions of {dollars} for Mr Tinubu and his deputy Kashim Shettima for example.

One other was when Mr Tinubu earlier this month launched a brand new official residence for Vice-President Shettima within the capital, Abuja, with a price ticket of $13.6m (£11m).

And regardless of the president’s assertion concerning the international ghost-workers, he didn’t say precisely what he was doing to crack down on them and take motion in opposition to these accountable.