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The House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee is investigating mismanagement in the recruitment of federal Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), parastatals, and tertiary institutions.
The committee aims to address issues such as employment racketeering and the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) and is considering recommending the abolition of employment waivers that bypass job opportunity advertisements.
Committee chairman, Yusuf Gagdi, made this declaration during a resumed investigative hearing in Abuja on Monday.
He raised concerns about the lack of transparency in government agencies’ employment practices, with many opting for waivers to avoid publicly advertising positions.
“We will abolish waivers for employment advertisements. Waivers are not in the best interest of this country. They are an abuse of Nigerian citizens. When agencies are granted waivers, they often allocate positions among agency directors and the political overseers of those agencies, whether it is the National Assembly or not.
“But when waivers are granted, there is no advertisement, and citizens of this country are denied opportunities for recruitment,” Yusuf stated.
A committee member Ahmad Jaha, also cited a specific instance of imbalance, stating that no individuals from the entire northeastern region were included in the recruitment conducted by the National Postgraduate Medical College.
He also linked such imbalances in employment to the social and economic factors contributing to unrest in the region, even suggesting that organizations like this could be indirectly contributing to issues like the Boko Haram insurgency.
“One of the reasons people join Boko Haram is because they do not have anything to do for a living,” Jaha asserted.
He added: “Somebody cannot go to school, spend years, write examinations, become a consultant, and then when you advertise a position, he is left jobless and didn’t even apply?
“How do you expect peace in the country when in the whole region, six states, there is no single employee of your organization? We are not happy about this. This agency might be cited as an example of sponsors or causes of Boko Haram.”
In response, the Registrar of the National Postgraduate Medical College Prof. Fatiu Arogundade, defended the college’s recruitment process.
Arogundade claimed that job vacancies were widely publicized through social media and the college’s website.
He also assured the committee that the imbalance in employment would be rectified in subsequent hiring processes.
The committee also engaged with representatives from the Nigeria Tourism Development Authority, Standard Organization of Nigeria and the Nigeria Press Council.