UK cab driver confesses still getting paid in Nigeria as civil servant

Despite leaving Nigeria for the UK two years ago, Sabitu Adams gets paid each month as a junior official at a government agency back home.

Adams, who now works as a taxi driver in the UK, had his name changed by a BBC report to protect his identity.

The taxi driver has yet to resign from his job in Nigeria.

Adams is one of the thousands of ghost workers, a rampant issue in the Nigerian civil service.
Each year, the government carries out biometric verifications and reels out numbers representing discovered ghost workers, and money saved.

But no one is ever announced to have been arrested or prosecuted.

READ ALSO:

• Police rescue 2 kidnapped victims in Abuja
• Gunmen abduct 20 travellers along Sagamu-Ijebu-Ode expressway
• Saudi club Al-Ittihad woo Ademola Lookman with €11m salary

Last week, President Bola Tinubu directed that all civil servants drawing salaries from the government after relocating abroad should be made to refund the money.

Tinubu also ordered that the culprits’ supervisors and department heads be punished for aiding and abetting the fraud while they were in charge.

Adams told the BBC that he was not worried about the president’s directives because he earned better as a taxi driver in the UK.

“When I heard about the president’s directive, I smiled because I know I am doing better here – and not worried,” the 36-year-old said.

The cab driver said he did not resign “in case I choose to go back to my job after a few years”.
Adams was quoted as saying he had an arrangement with his boss in Nigeria who is a “relative”.

UK cab driver confesses still getting paid in Nigeria as civil servant

Police rescue 2 kidnapped victims in Abuja

Two kidnapped victims were rescued by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command in the Guto community of Bwari, Abuja, on Sunday.

Gunmen abduct 20 travellers along Sagamu-Ijebu-Ode expressway

No fewer than 20 travellers along the Sagamu-Ijebu-Ode Expressway were reportedly abducted by some gunmen at about 8 pm on Sunday while one of the victims was shot in the knee.

The gunmen were said to have ambushed the travellers between Sagamu Area Command of the Nigeria Police and Ilisan township.

The Chairman of Ilisan Development Council, Wemmy Osude, confirmed this to PUNCH Online.

Osude said one of the victims of the attack who is a resident of Ilisan Remo was already receiving medical attention at the Babcock University Teaching Hospital.

He said, “Information reaching me right now confirmed a kidnapping incident between the Area Command and Ilisan City Gate (formerly Delabo).

“A resident of Ilisan (name unconfirmed) was reportedly shot in the knee and is receiving medical attention at Babcock Teaching Hospital.

READ ALSO:

• Saudi club Al-Ittihad woo Ademola Lookman with €11m salary
• Six Palestinians killed as Israeli forces pound southern, northern Gaza
• Man United keen on getting Osimhen, offer Hojlund plus cash

“Other victims were taken into the bush. While waiting for additional information, please contact your loved ones who may be plying that road at about this time to be cautious.”