Exposed: How former head of service stole millions of workers funds

– The immediate former Head of Civil Service in Akwa Ibom state, Cecilia Udo Essien, has allegedly diverted millions of state funds

– The stolen funds were supposed to pay the entitlements of indigenes of Akwa Ibom 

– The indigenes worked with the Cross River Hotel Tourism Board

Cecilia Udo Essien, the immediate former Head of Civil Service in Akwa Ibom state, has allegedly diverted millions of naira of state funds.

According to Sahara Reporters, the stolen funds were supposed to pay the entitlements of indigenes of Akwa Ibom who worked with the Cross River Hotel Tourism Board.

READ ALSO: President Buhari orders Adeosun to pay civil servants’ arrears

Some of the affected workers from Akwa Ibom said that their counterparts from Cross River State were reabsorbed into the state’s civil service and duly paid off, but those from Akwa Ibom state were abandoned.

Several affected workers who hail from Akwa Ibom said that, following a series of petitions they wrote to then governor. Godswill Akpabio, the governor in September 2012 ordered that they be screened and paid their full entitlement.

But an investigation revealed that Mrs. Udo Essien corruptly diverted the funds meant to pay the workers, which was paid in two cheques.

In November 2015, when confronted about it she completely denied that she had diverted the funds to her personal use, and promised to look into the matter. However, she never addressed the issue until she left office in December 2015.

A senior source in the Akwa Ibom state government said Mrs. Udo Essien collaborated with the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Nkang Udeh, to embezzle funds meant for the workers.

One of the affected workers alleged that the former commissioner had approached the leadership of their group and urged them to increase the number of affected workers from 85 to 150. “But we refused to do so,” the worker said.

He added that, once the commissioner discovered that his corrupt scheme would not sail through, he apparently decided to ensure that the affected workers lost everything.

“They shared the money among themselves and a few directors who helped them to cover their tracks,” said the source.

In a new turn of events, the current head of service, in a letter to representatives of the affected workers, declared that the process of paying them had since been concluded. The letter was dated March 1, 2016 and signed by Bassey Odungide on behalf of the HCS.

READ ALSO: Buhari effects massive shake-up in federal civil service

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has reportedly ordered Kemi Adeosun, Nigeria’s finance minister to pay outstanding debts to civil servants in the country.

In a statement issued in Abuja by the head of Civil Service of the federation, Winifred Ekanem Oyo-Ita, in which the federal government informed that it will pay the civil servants death benefits, promotion arrears and other outstanding debts, running to about N300 billion.

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