***As lawmakers begin prove of alleged Job racketeering in MDAs

There was a mild drama on Tuesday as Commissioners in the Federal Character Commission (FCC) exposed the Chairman of the Commission, Muheeba Dankaka before the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigative hearing.

The House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating job racketeering, Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, IPPIS, in MDAs, headed Yusuf Adamu Gagdi (APC, Plateau) had summoned Dankaka in its probe on employment racketeering and gross mismanagement of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) in MDAs.

At resumed hearing on Tuesday,
the FCC Chairperson had earlier in a letter delivered by some commissioners informed the committee that she had an appointment with her doctor.

She said the appointment informed her inability to appear before the committee and had assigned some commissioners to make presentations on her behalf which the committee agreed.

The Commissioner representing Taraba State in the Commission, Armaya’u Garba Abubakar who spoke on behalf of the others before the committee asked the committee to give the FCC one week to present more documents required but not included among the ones presented.

But things took a new turn when the Commissioner representing Delta State, Moses Anaughe who came in much later, told the Committee that, the FCC Chairperson was hale and hearty and in her office, saying that she did not have any appointment with her doctor but only wanted to dodge the committee’s invitation.

He said, “As we speak, she is in her office. You can confirm. She is in her office as we speak”.

Two other Commissioners present at the investigative hearing corroborated the Delta FCC Commissioner’s claim.

However, the FCC Commissioner representing Taraba said the letter was given to the commission’s secretary, Mohammed Bello Tukur by the Chairperson before they left for the National Assembly.

Chairman and members of the committee who were visbly infuriated accused some of the commissioners of lying to the Parliament on Oath.

Chairman of the committee demanded that the chairperson and all the 37 FCC commissioners appear before it on Wednesday.

The Taraba FCC Commissioner however told the committee that some of them were outside Abuja on assignments, an excuse refuted by the commissioner representing Delta who said all the commissioners were in Abuja.

But, the Taraba FCC commissioner insisted that the commissioners representing Yobe and Oyo are out on assignments saying that the one representing Yobe was in Maiduguri while he cannot recall where the other one was.

He further informed the committee that there are now only 36 commissioners at the FCC as one of them is now a member of the House.

Chairman of the committee who agreed on the number of commissioners however ruled that the FCC Chairperson must appear with all the 36 commissioners before 11:00am on Wednesday.

Gagdi insisted that the probe panel would not tolerate any heads of MDAs that refused to attend the panel.

He said, “I do not think this committee will conduct any investigative hearing unless, with the leave of the members, the heads of the MDAs concern do not appear in person

He said the committee would not compromise its stand, adding that the National Assembly and particularly the House of Reps required the committee to do a thorough job.

“We are not going to compromise this, we will do what the National Assembly requires us to do. I urged agencies not to see any members asking questions as a witch hunt exercise,” he said.

Gagdi said for those who wrote a letter, stating the reason for their inability to appear before the committee, the lawmaker said the letter would only be acceptable by the leave of the house.

He said any attempt for any heads of MDAs to fail in honouring their invitation would be resisted, adding that no other officers would be admitted to represent such head of MDAs except their Account officers.

According to him, for those that wrote a letter and stated ill-health as a reason for not appearing before the panel, this will only be considered with the leave of the House.

He said the committee would be willing to interface with them, adding that any deputy directors or permanent secretary would not be allowed, “unless they are accounting officers.”

He said the committee would not tolerate any complaint or a letter, adding that all the committee needed was the heads of those agencies to appear in person at the panel.

Some of the heads of MDAs that shunned the committee were; the Accountant General for the Federation, Auditor-General for the Federation.

Others include Chairman, , the Head of Service of the Federation, Federal Civil Service Commission.

Meanwhile, the representative of the Federal Character Commission brought a letter before the committee stating that she could not attend the probe panel because of a medical appointment with a Doctor.

However, Ahmed Amshi, the Chairman, National Assembly Service Commission was on ground to answer questions from the panel.

Gagdi commended him for showing up, adding that, because the chairman of the commission work in the system, he has a lot of regard for Nigerians

Earlier, Speaker, Abbas Tajuddeen, stated that the abuse and other infractions on IPPIS by MDAs is a criminal activity undermining the essence of transparency

He said, “The abuse of personnel recruitment and blatant employment racketeering destroys the essence of bureaucratic processes and leaves damaging implications. It affects the integrity of our institutions and distort the aspirations of many citizens who seek competitive and fair opportunities.

“Additionally, the mismanagement and subversion of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) is a gross misconduct and criminal activities that challenge the very core principles of prudent management of our nation’s financial resources. I challenge this Committee to address this issues head-on and recommend policy agenda for legislative actions.”