By Stephen Ubanna
For years, Fraudsters had extorted millions of naira from unemployed Nigerians seeking for Job in relevant government agencies by play the role of contracted Consultants and asking for agent fees of between N5,00.00 and N10, 000.00 to get their applications processed.
The most commonly used agency used by the fraudsters to defraud their victims was the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS. The situation was so bad that Joseph Attah , a Deputy Comptroller and the Customs Spokesperson had to come out to repeatedly warn Nigerians to retrace their steps from patronising those Criminal elements, assuring them that when the Service would be ready to engage services of fresh hands, it would not hesitate to make it public.
Indeed, when the government revenue generating and Enforcement agency was ready to engage the services of 3, 200 fresh hands , mainly supportive staff , it was said to have been made public, thus making nonsense of the claims of the fraudsters that the Customs was recruiting secretly.
Note that when the trick failed , they resorted to plan B , that applicants who needed the Customs job have buy their way . Again , they met a stone wall as Attah hd advised the job seekers in the agency against offering bribes to anybody or group of persons to buy their way. He had assured the applicants that the exercise would remain open and transparent until the Completion period. The scammers knew the game was up as they were forced to withdraw.
Now, the fraudsters, appeared to have shifted their attention to dare the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, to fleece their victims. They may have gotten it wrong as Iseichei Osamgbi, the agency Deputy Director, in-charge of Corporate Communication has risen up to the Challenge to follow the footsteps of Attah, the Customs Image maker to force the scammers out of the businesss. By informing Nigerians that there is ongoing recruitment under the current Management Headed by Dakuku Peterside.
Osamgbi, was said to have made it clear to those that cares to listen that the’’ agency has not embarked on any recruitment exercise at the moment. ‘’ He dissociated Maritime Regulatory agency from the online Adverts making the rounds and being brandished on various social media platforms , but not The Value News platform, to defraud Nigerians. The NIMASA media guru may have given an, insight to the tactics used by the scammers to defraud their victims to the use of the social media, particular, Facebook, text messages or e-mails.
This is in addition to sending open letters inviting the job seeking applicants for interviews through phones at different locations across the country , claiming to be Consultants. Recall that the scammers had claimed to be claimed to be Consultants to NIMASA.
Many believe that both for the quick intervention of the agency Corporate Communicaton Department officials to warn the public to ignore such job recruitment Advertisement linked to NIMASA , from these Criminal elements who are taking advantage of the state of the economy to defraud Nigeria, much damage could have been done.
The Magazine learnt that prior to the official Statement by the agency dissociating itself from the scam, many job seekers had already fallen victim to their antics by paying the re fees requested by them to make the list of those to be invited for interview.
Insiders informed The Value News that the agency Management are leaving to equal to the challenge as it was said to have contacted Mohammed Adamu, the Inspector General of Police, IGP, and the Heads of other relevant security agencies to mobilise their men to track the activities of these scammers and arrest them to face the full weight of the Law as a deterrence to those still in the business.
Appealing to the public to be careful how they respond to such fake Adverts in the social medial platforms, it maintained that it had not contracted any individual or group to engage on a recruitment drive for the agency. Osamgbi may have gladdened the heart of Nigerians when he said that ‘’at the appropriate time , NIMASA would advertise for available vacancies for qualified Nigerians to apply’’.The only time, according to insider sources the agency could have had the opportunity of advertising for job placement was during the Administration of Patrick Akpbolokemi but that was how far it could go. The Advertisemnet never saw the light of the day as job placement in the Organisation had been based over the years on who you know in the ministry of Transportation, the agency or the Presidency. The Lawmakers have not been left out in ensuring that their children or relations were given job in the Oganisation through the backdoor.
It is not surprising why may Nigerians were surprised when the NIMASA Job recruitment Avert appeared on the some online platforms. This is because NIMASA had never Advertised for job recruitment in the past. Perhaps, Peterside would break the Jinx as promised by Osamgbi that at the a appropriate time it would be done. Nigerians are waiting to stop the scammers from feeding fat on them.
