Japa: Civil servants must refund salaries collected, department heads punished – Tinubu

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has said that civil servants who relocated abroad while drawing salaries without formally resigning must refund the wages they received during the period.

Tinubu spoke at the 2024 Civil Service Award and Gala Night, the climax of the week-long 2024 Civil Service Week, held at the Abuja Continental Hotel.

During the media parley to mark the 2024 civil service week, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation shared the revelation regarding employees who had relocated abroad while drawing salaries without formally resigning.

She, however, said that measures have been taken to address this issue.

Speaking on Saturday, Tinubu insisted that “we must ensure those responsible are held accountable and restitution is made.”

“The culprits must be made to refund the money they have fraudulently collected. Their supervisors and department heads must also be punished for aiding and abetting the fraud under their watch,” the President said.

He noted that the Civil Service cannot just be a workplace where ‘anything is possible, ‘where workers violate rules without the fear of punishment or repercussions.

“The civil service of any nation is too important for such misconduct to take root or be tolerated.

“The Civil Service is the bedrock, the engine, the locomotive of government, which is necessary for the government to deliver public goods to citizens. As politicians, we are no more than drivers of the locomotives that you provide,” he added.