Over 500 “illegal staff” employees of the ministry of labour and employment have been sacked by the federal government.
However, without a waiver from the office of the head of the federation’s civil service, they were alleged to have been hired into the ministry weeks before the general election of 2019.
The Ministry’s Director of Human Resource Management, Hussain Abdallah Rahman, reportedly signed an internal circular stating that “illegal staff” had been fired as a result of a committee’s unwillingness to enroll the new hires in the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) platform.
The IPPIS is a platform under the office of the accountant-general of the federation responsible for the payment of salaries and wages directly to government employees’ bank accounts with appropriate deductions and remittances of third-party payments.
AbdallahRahman stated in the circular that the non-compliance with the directive of the head of civil service by the ministry of labour during the employment process was the main cause of the sack of the workers.
The circular also directed the affected workers to return all government properties in their care to their respective unit heads.
“With reference to the letter from the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation Ref. No. NICSF/PS/CMO/IPPIS/S.2/VOLT dated 5th September 2022, on the above subject, I am directed to inform the under-listed persons that the Committee on Enrolment of New Employees into the IPPIS platform did not process their enrolment,” the circular reads.
“Furthermore, the recruitment exercise was carried out without waiver from its office.
“All affected persons are hereby requested to immediately return any government property or properties in their possession to the heads of department/unit.”
‘How these 512 can be retained. The head of service said she would have loved to do it, but she can’t just approve employment without vacancy for them.
“The ministry had no option now, but to ask the 512 to leave because they were not captured for salary. They haven’t been paid salary since the time they were given the employment letters. The summary of it was the appointment was illegal.
“There is nothing to do to correct illegality. The present administration in the ministry has no other thing to do after making several failed overtures than for them to leave.”