TWO weeks after a report by The ICIR establishing that most federal ministries pay little or no attention to e-mail enquiries, the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) has responded.
An enquiry was sent to 24 ministries, including the OSGF, on October 3 and then a reminder was sent to same addresses a week after on October 11, to confirm, among other things, “if the ministry or any department under it has recently put out a call for job application”.
Three weeks later, 20 of the recipients, including the OSGF, did not respond to nor acknowledge receiving this enquiry. Some, in fact, have no official e-mail addresses or contact pages on their websites.
On Thursday, 36 days after the e-mail was sent and 15 days following the publication of the story, the OSGF has finally provided a response.
“Hello Adekunle,” read the message, which was not signed with a name. “Thank you for your mail. Please always check Federal Civil service Commission (FCSC) for anything concerning federal Government Ministries and its MDA’s employment Federal Civil Service Commission.”
“Remember, government does not charge money for employment or anything related to that,” it added.
The ICIR noted that the office, in replying, used the same e-mail address to which the enquiry was sent, which Segun Adetola, OSGF’s Assistant Press Director, had said does not belong to the office.
“This is not our e-mail,” he had said after the same one on the office’s contact page was sent to him.
He had added: “Looks like one of those that the scammers are using. However, I need to meet you before releasing our mail address.”
Read the original report:
REPORT: Information, Foreign Affairs, Science … 20 ministries you should not bother e-mailing
'Kunle works with The ICIR as an investigative reporter and fact-checker. You can shoot him an email via [email protected] or, if you're feeling particularly generous, follow him on Twitter @KunleBajo.