AS investigation continues into the death of 43 applicants during recruitment tests conducted by two main agencies in the Ministry of Interior, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission on Monday in Abuja revealed how a syndicate in the ministry collected over N22 million bribe from 140 applicants.


A statement from the commission and signed by its spokesperson, Mr. Sina Babasola, disclosed that five members of the syndicate had been arrested and undergoing interrogation.


The statement read: “A special syndicate which specialises in demanding and collecting money from prospective applicants seeking employment into the Nigeria Prisons Service (NPS) and Nigeria Immigrations Service (NIS) has been smashed by operatives of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).


“The leader of the syndicate, a Chief Superintendent of Prison, Mrs. Mba Josephine Uchenna, attached to the Administration Department of the NPS, has been arrested by the commission in connection with the alleged scam.


“Preliminary investigation by the ICPC revealed that the syndicate had collected over N22 million from over 140 applicants seeking employment into the two federal agencies.


“A top government official attached to the office of the Minister of Interior, Mr. Udoh Abel, and four others from the Immigrations and Prisons services alleged to have benefited from the illegal proceeds collected from the applicants, are currently being interrogated by the commission to determine the level of their involvement in the alleged scam.


“Others being interrogated alongside Udo Abel are Kuta Babangida of Immigrations and Ahmadu Usman, Barrister Audu Karimu, Esther Amadasu, all of the Administration Department of NPS.


“One of the applicants had in a petition to the commission alleged that the sum of N500,000 was collected from her to secure appointment into the Nigeria Prisons Service.


“According to the petitioner, she was given an account number by the leader of the syndicate to pay the money into, but the suspect changed her mind and collected N400,000 instead and instructed her to pay the balance of N100,000 into the designated account.


“The petitioner claimed that after the payment, the suspect acknowledged receipt and requested her to send a duplicate of the deposit slip and her credentials for processing, but at the end, the appointment was not given to her and the money was not refunded.


“In the course of investigation, the suspect, Uchenna, was alleged to be working with five other staff of the Prisons and Immigration Service to perpetrate the corrupt act.


“It was further gathered that the syndicate had realized over N22 million from extorting over 140 applicants with each of the applicants paying between N150,000 and N240,000 into designated accounts domiciled at two different commercial banks.


“The leader of the syndicate has made confessional statements to the ICPC, admitting that she committed the crime and also named five other staff members of the two agencies that have benefited from the illegal proceeds.


“Investigation into the matter is still ongoing and the suspects may be charged to court for allegedly violating sections of the ICPC Act.”

Hunnnnnnnnnn bribery and corruption everywhere and how did unemployed applicants cough out N22M as bribe?

22m divided by 140 people would be roughly 158k per applicant. Why would anyone pay that much to get a job? A job in the PRISONS service? Is it that rewarding?

spikedcylinder:

22m divided by 140 people would be roughly 158k per applicant. Why would anyone pay that much to get a job? A job in the PRISONS service? Is it that rewarding?

oh yes it is rewarding, u get to look after prisoners like ex-governors and politicians who milked the country dry,

and the catch is, with the hope of sharing the hidden loot with them, as long as they are looked after!

_{in less than a month, the investment would yield more than double returns!hehe}

Both the receiver and giver of the bribes should be charged to court, they are both culpable.

This alledge N22m will not be for just this 5 people but for host of other people in the service to make sure everything 'gel'


As the former national anthem says ' Nigeria we hail thee' 

Everything has been established on corruption without no boundaries.

I am sure the defence counsel will be able to cite in their defence and mitigation the state of the nations deplorable situation and our leaders having over 100K in daily allowance.

So maybe the ordinary folks want a yearly allowance of say N1 million.

CORRUPTION CORRUPTION CORRUPTION - when will thou ceased?

That's it, Nigeria and corruption

Kudos must be given to the Nigerian Tribune, the oldest newspaper in Nigeria, for providing prompt and accurate news stories to lots of Nigerians at home and in the diaspora. It has always been an authoritative source of news from Ngeria - http://www.tribune.com.ng

The members of this syndicate that collected this huge sum of money from applicants are heartless and must be made to face the full wrath of the law.

Corruption must be condemned in its entirety!!!

For the people who knowingly involve themselves in crime by bribing their way into the employs of the prison and now they petition? Can you have your cake and eat it? You automatically become a part of the problem ie. criminals when you bribe anyone. Corruption does not end with those who demand bribe. Those who pay the bribe are also corrupt beings and need to be made to face the music.

vigasimple:

Both the receiver and giver of the bribes should be charged to court, they are both culpable.

This alledge N22m will not be for just this 5 people for dozen host of other people in the service to make sure everything 'gel'


As the former national anthem says ' Nigeria will hail thee'

Everything has been established on corruption without no boundaries.

I am sure the defence counsel will be able to cite in their defence and mitigation the state of the nations deplorable situation and our leaders having over 100K in daily allowance.

So maybe the ordinary folks want a yearly allowance of say N1 million.

CORRUPTION CORRUPTION CORRUPTION - when will thou ceased?

Kobojunkie:

For the people who knowingly involve themselves in crime by bribing their way into the employs of the prison and now they petition? Can you have your cake and eat it? You automatically become a part of the problem ie. criminals when you bribe anyone. Corruption does not end with those who demand bribe. Those who pay the bribe are also corrupt beings and need to be made to face the music.

If you decide to punish the giver as well then you are promoting better cooperation and secrecy between both parties involved which would lead to flourishment of the corruption.

It you place blame and risk on one party out of the two, then that party would be less cooperative or charge a higher premium to take part in the criminal activity as they face all the risk.

This would result in non-participation (due to fear/less cooperation) or reduced corruption (due to charged premium beyond the reach of some) and also an open avenue to get prosecution (due to willingness of key parties in testifying and undertaking sting operations).

Sagamite:

If you decide to punish the giver as well then you are promoting better cooperation and secrecy between both parties involved which would lead to flourishment of the corruption.

It you place blame and risk on one party out of the two, then that party would be less cooperative or charge a higher premium to take part in the criminal activity as they face all the risk.

This would result in non-participation (due to less cooperation) or reduced corruption (due to charged premium beyond the reach of some) and also an open avenue to get prosecution (due to willingness of key parties in testifying and undertaking sting operations).

I disagree. Punishing both parties involved in this case will not only send the message that corruption as a whole is unacceptable but will let the people know that bribery is no longer to be condoned. This will open up opportunity for people to freely report cases where they are asked to pay bribe to some party. Punishing those who pay bribe in this case sends a message to others out there that it is not acceptable by law to play victim by indulging in crime. This gives people the incentive to fight corruption when they see it, rather than continue to pay bribe, encouraging the corrupt in the first place and then complaining about it afterwards.  I believe it will be unjust for the law to choose to punish the one side and not the other in this case or any other case. Asking for bribe is illegal; paying bribe is also illegal.

The main reason corruption continues to thrive in that country is because the people continue to pay bribe. If the people were to understand that the law will come down hard on both parties involved, that will send the right message, and force them to understand they are not victims but accomplices when they choose to pay bribe.

ewooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh,these greedy peoples are killing Nigerians directly and indirectly.
why those stupid applicants decided to do that kind of rubbish?

hi
will like to meet u.

Kobojunkie:

I disagree. Punishing both parties involved in this case will not only send the message that corruption as a whole is unacceptable but will let the people know that bribery is no longer to be condoned. This will open up opportunity for people to freely report cases where they are asked to pay bribe to some party. Punishing those who pay bribe in this case sends a message to others out there that it is not acceptable by law to play victim by indulging in crime. This gives people the incentive to fight corruption when they see it, rather than continue to pay bribe, encouraging the corrupt in the first place and then complaining about it afterwards.  I believe it will be unjust for the law to choose to punish the one side and not the other in this case or any other case. Asking for bribe is illegal; paying bribe is also illegal.

The main reason corruption continues to thrive in that country is because the people continue to pay bribe. If the people were to understand that the law will come down hard on both parties involved, that will send the right message, and force them to understand they are not victims but accomplices when they choose to pay bribe.

This is all well and good. And it should ideally be the approach to bribery.

But pragmatically, if this approach is taken then you would induce strong cooperation and commaradrie between the bribe receiver and the bribe giver as it is in their mutual best interest that this crime goes through with utmost secrecy.

And even in cases of suspicion, it would be an uphill task to get evidence and be successful in court. Crime is very easy, prosecution and conviction for crime is relatively hard.

This is why you see police inducing plea-bargains in the US as long as the suspect is willing to be prosecutor witness.

To tackle some crimes you have to look at the before, the during and the after of the crime.

One of the key contributors to success of bribery in Nigeria is the cooperation of the parties in the crime. By using my approach, you are putting a knife of distrust between the parties before the crime is committed.

This would induce the risk taker to only consider a high premium before putting himself at risk, which would lead to some bribe givers not being able or willing to pay that much premium.

And if anything takes place, then it would be much easier for an incompetent and ill-equiped police force to produce a case that would be successful after the crime by having a key participant as a witness.

Although I think there should be something in the legislation catering for punishment of the giver, which should be waiveable to coerce into being a prosecution witness.

At the end of the day, if you have more takers too scared to take then bribery would reduce.

If we looked at it more closely, we would realise that a lot of people in the West would be willing to give bribes as well. What stops them is that the takers in the West are too scared/not willing to take.

The said lady ws d 1 that reported the mata 2 d police nd they invited the ICPC to investigate d mata and that the people she handed the money to failed to give them the job

so three years on, what happened? investigation still ongoing

the matter is till in court