Nigerian Civil Service Admits Due Diligence Failure in Recruitment Scandal

Nigeria's Head of the Civil Service, Mrs. Esther Didi Walson-Jack, has conceded that her office failed to exercise sufficient due diligence before issuing key approvals, including a recruitment waiver, to a purported agency. This admission came during an investigation by the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee examining the alleged establishment of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC) and the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) without proper legal backing.

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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 authorised establishment and a recruitment waiver to the PEAC/PFIPC.

Walson-Jack informed lawmakers that her office relied on documents presented by the agency, which were later discovered to be fraudulent. These included an "Establishment Act" and a letter appointing a Director-General. She explained that under standard civil service procedures, newly formed agencies must present an enabling Act, the chief executive's appointment letter, and other supporting documents to obtain an authorized establishment and provisional recruitment waiver.

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In over almost a century of the Federal Civil Service, we have never encountered a situation like the current one. Criminals always try to be a step ahead of law enforcement.

The committee revealed that a web of forged documents was used to secure these government approvals. Walson-Jack, possessing nearly 30 years of legal practice experience, personally reviewed the documents and confirmed that the presented Establishment Act was not authentic. She also noted discrepancies in the appointment letter purportedly signed by the Chief of Staff to the President, stating that the signatures did not match genuine correspondence.

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I requested to see the documents myself and I saw that the Establishment Act was not really an authentic Act. I have almost 30 years of legal practice experience and immediately I saw it, I knew it was not.

Further corroborating these findings, the committee chairman disclosed that a forensic analysis conducted by the Nigeria Police had definitively confirmed the signatures were not only different but that there was "not even an attempt to imitate the signature." The Head of Service acknowledged the unprecedented nature of the situation, noting that in nearly a century of the Federal Civil Service, such a case had never been encountered, attributing it to the ingenuity of criminals seeking to outmaneuver law enforcement.

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I’m not a forensic expert, but I can clearly see that the signatures are not the same.