Apprehension grips Osun workers over alleged infractions in employment certificates

The job of 637 workers on the payroll of Osun State government is endangered following alleged discovery of infractions in certificates and other documents submitted by these workers to secure employment into the state public service, schools, parastatals, boards and other agencies.

Coordinator in the state Ministry of Information and Strategy, Lani Baderinwa yesterday confirmed the discovery of discrepancies in the credentials of the affected workers following the conclusion of certificate audit and verification exercise by a consulting firm, The Captain Consultants believed to have been hired by the immediate past administration of governor Rauf Aregbesola in 2014.

The firm had completed its assignment and submitted report to the state authorities.

The Guardian learnt yesterday that the report is causing panic among the state workforce many of whom had travelled out of the state to celebrate Easter.

The screening of the workers’ credentials came on the heels of controversies and reported forgery of results with which some of the workers allegedly secured their jobs in the Osun civil service.

At the commencement of the screening exercise in 2015, all the civil servants in the state were asked to submit their credentials in their personal files, from which the consulting firm got access to their results and began the verification exercise.

Each and every result submitted by each of the workers was verified in their various secondary schools, post secondary schools and tertiary institutions.

Some of the workers who were suspected to have either hired or submitted forged/fake results were summoned by the firm and asked to present original results or go to their various schools for either attestation or re-confirmation.

It was gathered that the firm, later approached the schools for ‘confirmation of results’ of the affected workers for which they were obliged.

The verification process uncovered certificate infraction on the part of some of the workers across Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the state government.

In some cases, as discovered in the verification process, some of the affected workers reportedly used another person’s result, while some forged their secondary and post secondary school results to secure job in the state service.

For instance, in the case of some people employed as drivers in the service, it was discovered that they forged the O’Level results they submitted for their appointment.

However, the firm in its report recommended that some of the civil servants caught in the certificate infraction be pardoned, while some should not be pardoned.

Among those recommended for pardon included 102 drivers and 30 other workers who were to be pardoned on compassionate ground. A total of 586 workers were not pardoned, while the case of some 51 workers was still pending.

While the exercise lasted, some of the workers who were cleared and pardoned were receiving their salary while those that are yet to be pardoned have their salary suspended.

A complete list of all the workers involved in the certificate infraction had been pasted at the Ministry of Information and Strategy, Civil Service Commission and Local Government Service Commission.

Baderinwa in a statement advised the workers to check their names in the lists pasted at the mentioned offices.