Senate probes FIRS, FCSC, others over recruitment

The Senate has begun investigation into allegations of breaches of the law in the ongoing recruitment exercises in some federal government agencies.

Among the agencies affected by the investigation are Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), National Open University (NOUN), Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Rural Electrification Agency and Nigerian Navy.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Character and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Senator Danjuma La’ah, while meeting with members of the committee, said the panel would not tolerate imbalance in the ongoing recruitment of some government agencies.

According to him, “I have made it clear that we need to be thorough to show that we are not witch-hunting anybody or any organisations. We want to be sure that employment will not be lopsided, every geopolitical zone must benefit from the employment because that is needed to promote national unity.”

He said the committee would not hesitate to suspend any recruitment that is conducted in contravention with approved guidelines, adding that so many agencies are presently recruiting and the Committee needed to have the idea of each of every agency in order to ensure that nobody will be shortchanged.

During the Committee meeting, some senators lamented that the Federal Character Commission always avoid the committee in order not for the Senate to known what is going in the government agencies.

In his opening remarks while meeting the members of the committee, the chairman said: “We will be sure the promotion and enforcement of equitable participation in government BT all sections of the country to promote national unity and redress any imbalance in appointment to all levels of the government.

“We will ensure the promotion and enforcement of the equitable and proportional distribution of infrastructural facilities and socioeconomic amenities among the federating units of Nigeria.”

“Our mandate therefore is to stick strictly to these principles as outlined above and discourage executive and administrative arbitrariness. You are all aware that none compliance with these principles is a punishable under the law or act establishing the Federal Character Commission.

“I want to categorically state here that the Committee will ensure enforcement of provision in section 14 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.”