Sections 14 and 15 of the Federal Character Commission Establishment Act provide punishment for those who fail to abide by the procedure set out for the recruitment of people into the public service of the federal, state and local governments as well as government-owned companies. One of the provisions is that such existing vacancies must be compiled and advertised in, at least, two national newspapers. But, this provision has been applied in breach, using waiver as subterfuge, TONY AKOWE reports
For years, the Federal Government’s embargo on employment has resulted in youths being jobless. As a result, the public service is depleted yearly because of retirement and resignation of some personnel, either because they have reached the mandatory number of years in the service or to take up other jobs.
The excuse by heads of ministries, departments and agencies of government has always been that there is an embargo on employment. But, while that is on, new people are being employed by these MDAs as replacements.
More often, one learns of jobs being sold in these MDAs for as high as N2 million for levels seven or 8 jobs. Desperate Nigerians go out of their way to source the money which they pay to secure such jobs.
The Nation’s investigation revealed that, in a particular agency, several workers who probably paid for jobs were sent home after two years on the job on the excuse that their employment was not legal.
This led to several complaints which necessitated a motion on the floor of the House of Representatives for an investigation on what has been regarded in the House as job racketeering.
In the motion, Oluwole Oke (PDP, Osun) alleged mismanagement of personnel recruitment, employment racketeering and gross mismanagement of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) by ministries, departments and agencies of government. He accused MDAs of fraud in the management of the IPPIS and devised methods of inserting ghost workers into the payroll and get payments through back-door channels.
Oke further alleged that, as a result of the illegal activities in the various MDAs, the government loses billions of naira annually.
He said: “The Federal Government has numerous Ministries, Departments, Agencies, Parastatals, Institutions and others. Currently, they represent the biggest employers of labour in Nigeria. The overhead of these public institutions constitutes a major component of the Budget of the Federal Government.
Notwithstanding this near-sacred role being played by the Federal Government, the process of recruiting and employment into the civil service has become one that is fraught with endemic corruption.
“Public institutions have since stopped the process of advertising for jobs and vacancies. Even in the few instances where adverts are published, the slots are already commoditised and available for the highest bidders.
“In other words, most public institutions now sell employment positions, notwithstanding the qualification of the applicant and the ability of the applicant to perform optimally on the job. This poses a major risk and has, indeed, constituted itself into a channel for the underperformance of the public service.
“Historically, from 1960 to the 1990s, Nigeria boasted of one of the best crops of public servants in the world and service delivery was at the highest level of professionalism.”
Continuing, he said: “This situation has since changed, largely because of the method of recruitment and the quality of recruitment into these public institutions, which are driven by fraud, abuse, corruption and pecuniary considerations.
“In spite of the introduction of these reforms, most Ministries, Departments and Agencies, in collusion with the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning have devised methods to insert ghost workers and get payments through back-door channels.
“They have also crafted methods that are being used to circumvent the BVN technology.
“If steps are not taken to investigate these challenges, the morale of most civil servants will be completely dampened. The Federal Government will continue to lose billions in monthly payments to ghost workers and illegal payments and the country will continue to be serviced by unqualified workers in the employ of various sectors within the Federal Civil Service.”
Revelations at the investigation headed by the Chairman of the House Committee on Navy, Yusuf Adamu Gagdi appear to have proved right the assertions contained in the motion. All MDAs have admitted to their failure to advertise existing vacancies in total disregard for extant laws and regulations.
Instead, they now prefer to apply for waiver not to advertise the job openings even when they have to mass employ. Procedures for recruitment into the service are contained both in the public service rules and the Federal Character Commission handbook which contained its enabling laws and other subsidiary legislations.
The Commission is one of the 14 independent federal executive bodies established by Section 153 of the 1999 Constitution as amended. The agency, however, predates the Constitution as it was set up through degree 34 of 1996 which is now an act of the National Assembly.
The Establishment Act mandates the commission to promote, monitor and enforce compliance with the principles of proportional sharing in all bureaucratic, economic, media and political posts at all levels of government.
One of the key mandates of the Commission is to ensure that there is even spread in employment for all Nigerians. that Nigerians from the 36 states of the federation and the FCT are well represented in government agencies.
Also, Section 6 (c) of the regulations which is still in force and signed by the former Executive Chairman, Prof. Shuaibu Oba AbdulRaheem provides punishment for disregarding to the provision in line with the laws establishing the commission.
The sitting of the House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee to investigate job racketeering in ministries, departments and agencies has brought to the fore the behind-the-scene dealings in employment racketeering across all government agencies, leading to constant requests for waiver by the MDAs.
The Nation gathered that with the agencies employing workers without an adequate budget, the MDAs often overdraw their personnel budget, exhausting what is meant for them in the budget before the end of the year, thereby leading to such agencies owing salaries and allowances of workers.
In a circular from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, dated July 11, 2017, the government frowned at such practice which it said is putting pressure on the government’s annual budget. The circular Ref. No. 58775/II/T/358 was signed by the then Acting Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Dr. (Mrs) Habiba M. Lawal and titled “Streamlining Procedures for Recruitment into Federal Agencies.”
The SGF said the habit of recruiting workers indiscriminately has not only created ghost workers in the payroll who receive fraudulent and erroneous salaries but has also perpetuated nepotism and regional imbalances in the Public Service.”
It warned that “if these practices continue unabated without reference to budgetary provisions and due process, the country stands the risk of unpaid salaries to workers, claims of budget shortfalls and the need for virement which would increase the payroll cost now already over 40 per cent of total government expenditure. Besides, the current ongoing reforms aimed at providing a high-level assurance on the integrity of the payroll and control personnel cost would be jeopardised.”
The circular, however, gave a way out of the situation, giving specific guidelines to be followed before such recruitment should be carried out. It said: “The government has, therefore, seen the need to take drastic step/action to arrest the situation in view of the current economic situation facing the country.
“Consequently, the government has decided to streamline the processes and procedures for recruitment and appointment into the Public Service. The MDAs are expected to adhere to Manpower Budget for their proposed recruitments, which must be approved by the supervising Ministry or Agency; obtain a waiver to Recruit from the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF); there must be appropriate budgetary provisions to accommodate the proposed recruitments; while a letter of clearance must be obtained from the Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation to confirm budgetary provision for the proposed recruitment.
Allegations of gross violations have not gone down well with the members of the Ad hoc committee as they continued to notice severe imbalances in recruitment by these agencies.
For example, while the Nigeria Food Science and Technology Council had permission and waiver to recruit 65 members of staff, only two of the six geopolitical zones in the country were represented in members of staff employed by the council.
This forced Wole Oke to call for the validation of the exercise. He observed that the employment of the 65 members of staff failed to take into consideration the provisions of the Federal Character as contained in the 1999 Constitution as amended.
Oke said: “This agency recruited members of staff without obeying the provision of the Federal Character Commission which is a constitutional requirement and the Federal Character Commission gave them a certificate of compliance.
“On what basis was the certificate issued when they failed to comply with the provisions of the Constitution? We have to take this matter seriously. This recruitment should be validated because it violates extant laws.”
The Chairman of the Committee, Gagdi expressed sadness that the waiver which was supposed to be used in an emergency situation was being abused and being used to deny qualified Nigerians opportunities to get jobs. Gagdi said: “Why did you choose to apply for a waiver when you are recruiting 300 and the law says only if the number is below 100? Why did you use a waiver for the recruitment of over 300 members of staff? That is against the law. It short-changed millions of Nigerians that should be given equal opportunity in terms of the employment process.”
The Nation observed that one of the agencies that appeared before the investigative committee applied for a waiver to carry out recruitment two years after it had conducted the exercise.
It was also observed that while the agency recruited about 120 members of staff in 2015, without advertisement as stipulated in the extant regulations, it applied to the Head of Service and the Federal Character Commission for waiver in 2017 and got approval. It was also observed that the recruitment took place one year after the circular from the Federal Character Commission making it mandatory for agencies to advertise vacancies in at least two daily newspapers circulating throughout the country.
But one question that lawmakers have continued to ask all agencies that appeared before it is why the preference for waiver rather than advertising existing vacancies for all interested Nigerians to apply. They also asked how the agencies generated the list of applicants who participated in the recruitment exercise.
In the course of this investigation, The Nation was informed that those who want to get a job in one of the paramilitary agencies are asked to part with about two million naira on the excuse that their salaries will soon be increased.
The Director-General of the Directorate for Technical Cooperation in Africa (DTCA), Ambassador Rabiu Dagari believe that the government agencies now resort to waiver for recruitment as a way of cutting corners and avoiding doing the right thing. He said even though his agency had applied for a waiver in the past, he would not follow that part as head of the agency as it denies the government the opportunity to harness the best for available jobs.
Dagari explained that the use of waiver was denying the government the opportunity to employ some of the best hands-to-man strategic positions in the service.
The practice of obtaining waivers for recruitment has also encouraged extortion. A former member of staff of the Federal Character Commission, Haruna Kolo admitted before the House of Representatives ad hoc Committee investigating job racketeering that he served as a front to collect money from job seekers on behalf of the Chairman of the Commission. Haruna admitted collecting between N1 million and N1.5 million from about 25 job seekers to give them an appointment into the Commission.
But the Chairman of the Commission, Muheeba Dankaka swore by a copy of the Holy Quran that she never collected any money from Haruna Kolo, neither has she ever asked him to collect money from job seekers on her behalf. But Kolo said the Chairman directed him to liaise with one Yishua Gambo, who is the driver and Personal Assistant to the Commissioner from Taraba and collect money from the applicants. However, two of the victims of job racketeering gave a bird’s eye view of what Nigerian job seekers may be passing through. The two victims, Abdulmalik Isa Ahmed and Ali Mohammed Yaro told the committee how they paid the sum of N1million and two million each for appointment letters without being posted or assigned any specific responsibility.
He claimed to have been enrolled on the IPPIS platform and has been receiving his monthly salaries without being posted to any department even though Kolo had given him assurances. Even though he was given an employment letter as a member of staff of the Federal Character Commission and has been collecting salaries, he has never been assigned any specific duty.
He said: “All I want is this committee to ensure that I get my job back. I paid money to get the job and I only wanted to be posted.”
Now, he appeared to have lost the job as the Commission has retrieved the appointment letter earlier issued to them. The same applies to Ali Mohammed Yaro who said after his graduation 11 years ago without a job; he saw an opportunity to secure one with the Federal Character Commission.
He claimed that Haruna Kolo told him that the money was for the Chairman and that I would be captured on the IPPIS platform. He brought the appointment letter and some documents for me to fill.
“In August 2022, Jallo took me to the Treasury House where Kolo Haruna met me, took me into the IPPIS office and I was captured. They told me that my posting letter would be ready within two weeks and I got my first salary in January 2023, five months after my enrolment in IPPIS.
“In July, we got a message from the Human Resources Department to come with our credentials for a meeting on Monday, July 17 2023. Upon arrival, we faced a committee that investigated us collected the original appointment letters and said that we would be issued another one within one week.
“The Secretary told us that they don’t sell appointments in the commission and that they were going to conduct an investigation into the issue, retrieve our money and regularise our appointment.”
Several government agencies now prefer to obtain waivers and carry out backyard recruitment in the name of replacement which many, however, admit may not be giving the service the needed expertise and the best qualified for the job.
