The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Esther Walson-Jack, has accepted responsibility for a major vetting failure, admitting that her office issued authorized establishment and recruitment approvals to the PEAC/PFICP after relying on documents that were not adequately verified.

Speaking during a public hearing, Walson-Jack acknowledged that her office should have exercised greater diligence before granting the approvals.

“What we are saying is that my office received the letter of appointment and the Establishment Act. And based on those documents, and also based on the interaction with the representatives of the PEAC and PFICP, they went on to issue the authorized establishment and later the recruitment waiver. We now, having seen all the facts and observed all the documents, concede that we ought to have carried out more due diligence in the discharge of the duties of the office, in issuing an authorized establishment and a recruitment waiver to the PEAC/PFICP.

“Mr. Chairman, if I may explain further, we do know that the PEAC used to exist as an ad hoc organization of its own. And the documents that were presented had PEAC/PFICP. However, like I said, due diligence may have detected whether those documents were actually authentic.”