Applicants allege fraud in SURE-P/FERMA recruitment

SCORES of trainees under the Subsidy Reinvestment Programme/ Federal Roads Maintenance Authority (SURE-P/FERMA) Task Force have alleged fraud and extortion by some popular individuals under the Goodluck Jonathan administration.
 
The protesters, cladded in black outfits, stormed the Lagos State House of Assembly premises, demanding prosecution of the individuals that allegedly defrauded them under the pretext of providing jobs.
 
Speaking on behalf of the protesters, Ikon Ikuagwu said the trainees who totaled 51, 000 were made to part with various sums of money to buy application forms, identity card capturing, vests, face caps and other accessories totaling over N79, 000 under the pretext that they would get federal jobs.
 
Ikuagwu alleged that for three years, since 2012, the trainees were made to undergo paramilitary training by agents of the Goodluck Jonathan administration and denied any form of salaries or allowances but promised that they already secured jobs with the FERMA Task Force.
 
“We parted with the various sums of money because of desperation and joblessness. We were made to believe that the programme was real because we saw the logo of the Federal Government and adverts in certain Nigerian newspapers,” he said.
 
He alleged that some chieftains of the People Democratic Party (PDP) are responsible for the collection of the various sums of money from them, adding that they had resorted to send a Save-Our-Soul (SOS) message to the Lagos State House of Assembly and the Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, to assist them in “salvaging the jobs promised them by the Jonathan administration”.

One of the protesters said they had been “dehumanised” in the last three years.

He said: “We suffered several losses including many of the female trainees who had miscarriages and many who suffered injuries while crossing the expressway to the training ground.”
 
The anonymous protester warned that presently, majority of the trainees are now roaming the streets having been denied the jobs the agents of the last administration promised them and that they constitute a potent danger if not well managed.
 
He added that the trainees, made up of Nigerians and graduates from all walks of life, have been left in the cold with nobody volunteering to explain why the jobs they were promised had disappeared into the thin air.
 
Responding to the protesters, the Majority leader of the House, Sanai Agunbiade, in company of colleagues like Olumuyiwa Jimoh and Segun Olulade, said the team had listened attentively to complaints of the protesters and would pass on their message to the Speaker.
 
Agunbiade said the House of Assembly had also received the petition of the SURE-P/ FERMA recruits and would deliberate on the contents before arriving at a decision, which would be communicated, to the State Governor for further necessary action.
 
He added that the House of Assembly had granted them audience in line with its constitutional responsibility of always giving a fair hearing to all categories of Nigerians who come before it with any form of complaints.