Forged appointment letters: Niger govt clarifies screening exercise for appointees

Niger State Government has emphasized that the ongoing screening exercise for political appointees is mandatory.

Out of approximately 4,000 appointees, only those who successfully pass the screening will receive their salaries.

The Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Hon. Binta Mamman, who made this known in a statement, said the exercise is to ensure proper documentation in order to reduce expenses and burden on the government.

Recall some appointees a few days ago protested the delay in the payment of their September salary at the government house.

She stated, “our attention was drawn to some unscrupulous elements who forged political appointment letters thereby causing the government to pay heavy salaries including those who are not genuine appointees of the government.”

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The commissioner noted that for the record, the government only gave letters to about 4,000 political appointees of different cadres ranging from Commissioners, Special Advisers, Senior Special Assistants, Coordinators, Special Assistants and others.

“This was done to have an all inclusive government, to bring everyone on-board so as to reduce the rate of unemployment and then give the people a sense of belonging. But unfortunately, some bad eggs went ahead to cause unnecessary scenes by forging appointment letters,” she argued

Hon. Mamman explained that pained by the heavy salaries amounting to over N600 million, the government has decided to identify the real appointees.

“This screening is the only way to checkmate, so as to reduce the expenses and burden on the government.

“We cannot do otherwise other than to look inward and flush out those parading themselves with the fake appointments as being part of the system. This way, money can be channelled to other very important areas in the system,” she added.