- ‘Recruitment process flawed, against civil service rules’
In continuation of his visits to local government areas of Rivers State, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike has accused Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara of cancelling an employment procedure that he (Wike) put in place to provide jobs for 10,000 youths across the state.
Wike alleged that upon resumption of office, Fubara cancelled what could have made the youths gainfully employed.
However, a government source has stated that the process for providing the jobs was flawed and contrary to civil service procedure.
The FCT minister spoke at Ahoada main town during the Renewed Hope Family ‘Thank you visit’ to Ahoada East Local Government Area.
Wike, who described Fubara as a “bad child”, knocked the governor for taking glory on projects that he (Wike) started in Ahoada and Emohua areas.
He faulted the governor for claiming that the construction of the Ahoada-Omoku and Emohua-Kalabari Road, which the minister said he had paid up to 70 per cent for before handing over, was completed.
“When I decided to dualise this Ahoada road, people thought it was impossible. But by the grace of God, today, Ahoada East, Ahoada town, is coming back to be the city it is supposed to be. I finished phase one of this dualisation.
Wike said: “Then I flagged off phase two, which would end up in Omoku. The job was given the same day as that of Emohua to the Kalabari area. I gave it to Julius Berger and we signed an agreement for Julius Berger to collect N4 billion every month from our IGR. The total amount of that road, and the one from Emohua to the Kalabari area, was about N80 billion. So, I said, if they collect N4 billion every month, that would give them N48 billion, and that in two years, they would have completed.
“Today, I hear people are making noise. They even forgot who laid the foundation for that road. I gave it to Setraco. I paid about 70 per cent (of the contract sum).
“I remember that day, they gave me 100 plots of land. I said, thank you, I don’t need land there. What is continuity?
“I employed Rivers State youths, 10,000 (of them). The person we handed over power to, instead of allowing the 10,000 youths, he cancelled the job for 10,000 youths. A bad child is a bad child.”
The FCT minister recalled that when he was the governor, Rivers was the envy of other states.
He expressed consternation that Fubara failed to continue what he (Wike) started in the state.
Wike added: “I handed over. See where I stopped. Please, make sure you continue with this programme that will make our state one of the respected in this country. When I was here, you know, Nigeria used to respect us. I don’t know what it is today. You will tell me. I didn’t make mistakes; we never made mistakes.”
The Chairman of South South Development Commission (SSDC) and Leader of the Renewed Hope Family in Ahoada, Chibudom Nwuche, praised Wike for the numerous projects he attracted to Ahoada.
The former House of Representatives Deputy Speaker gave the FCT minister a pat on the back for the sacrifice he made on the instructions to support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and elect the Rivers State governor.
He stressed that Fubara was elected as governor based on instruction.
Nwuche noted that same way the state voted for President Tinubu as president, promising that Ahoada would always back the President.
He promised that resients of Rivers State would always exhibit their loyalty to Wike.
Nwuche said no governor had ever shown the level of commitment to the development of Ahoada as Wike has done.
The ex-Deputy Speaker described politics as local, urging those interfering in Rivers politics to steer clear.
He also urged the people of the state to concentrate on working for the re-election bid of President Tinubu in their states.
Nwuche said: “Therefore, wherever you go, we shall go there. And, may I offer some advice to some interlopers. Politics is local. Go to your states and show your strength. Leave Rivers State alone. Rivers State has its own peculiar politics, which we all understand.
“We are a political family. When a leader chooses one of us, we expect that the person should show gratitude and work with all the team. When you divide a team, that is not how to show gratitude.”
“So, please, those who are interfering, mind your business. Go and show your strength in your various states. Go and win your state for the President, if you can.”
Wike’s supporters cheered him and his entourage.
But a government source yesterday faulted the process for the employment of the 10,000 jobs for Rivers youths.
The source said the process was faulty and contravened civil service procedure.
The source, who is close to Governor Fubara, wondered why Wike failed to provide the jobs before leaving office.
He said: “He (Wike) was a governor for eight years but did not employ anybody into the civil service. Even after his first term, he still did not employ people. He should have done that at the beginning of his second term so he could manage the problems that would come from it.
“But he waited till the end of his administration before beginning the process.”
The source noted that the process of recruiting the 10,000 youths was filled with irregularities and against the civil service rules.
He said: “The process was filled with irregularities and sharp practices. It was designed to saturate the civil service with politically exposed individuals. The FCT minister should tell the public the names he penciled down for employment into the civil service.”
“Most of them were party chiefs and card-carrying members of political parties. In that process, local government chairmen were asked to send between 200 and 300 names for recruitment. All the known processes of recruitment were circumvented.
“It was designed to hire unqualified and incompetent persons into the service and to reward family members and cronies at the expense of qualified individuals.
“When most of them came, they couldn’t even express themselves. Just imagine what the civil service would have been if that process was allowed by the current administration.”
The source stressed that throughout the period of Wike’s administration, the then governor failed to promote civil servants, adding that the service was more politicised under him.
“There were no promotions and no employment under Wike as a governor,” he said.
According to him, Fubara had hinted that a fresh process of recruitment that would encourage professionalism would be established in line with the civil service rules for employment.
The source said it was not true that the governor failed to give credit to Wike for the projects he initiated while in office.
He said: “The governor has always given him credit for what he started. In the spirit of continuity, the governor had completed most of the projects.
“Others would have abandoned those projects and started new ones, but our governor has been initiating and completing his new projects while also finishing the ones started by his predecessors. People should not be dishing out half-truth because of politics.”
