The Federal Government has ordered an unprecedented screening of thousands of civil servants in a move to clamp down on alleged job racketeering within the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC). The sweeping verification process, announced on Monday, will affect all employees recruited between 2013 and 2020, with immediate consequences for those who fail to comply.
The directive, contained in a circular dated August 4, 2025, and signed by Ndiomu Ebiogeh Philip, Permanent Secretary of the FCSC, warns that any civil servant who fails to appear for the screening will be presumed to have secured their position fraudulently and will face instant dismissal.
The re-verification order comes amid the 2025 Federal Civil Service recruitment exercise and follows the exposure of a deep-rooted job racketeering scandal. Investigations revealed allegations of top officials selling job slots, manipulating recruitment processes, and bypassing merit-based selection.
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According to the circular, the verification targets those who skipped the 2021 exercise, with the Commission accusing some employees of deliberately evading screening to avoid detection. The statement was emphatic: “No further extensions will be granted.”
President Bola Tinubu’s administration is positioning the exercise as part of its broader anti-corruption agenda, aimed at restoring integrity to the public service and ensuring that only genuinely appointed civil servants remain on the payroll.
The move has triggered anxiety among thousands of workers, many of whom now face the challenge of proving the legitimacy of their appointments. It also sends a strong signal that the era of buying jobs in the Federal Civil Service may be coming to an end.
With the 2025 recruitment drive still underway, the latest crackdown is expected to shape the future of federal employment in Nigeria, setting a precedent for transparency and meritocracy in the nation’s civil service system.
