Lawmakers: How MDAs ‘deliberately’ use waivers on ads to perpetrate jobs racketeering

*The Nigerian House of Representatives condemns the Federal Character Commission’s use of waivers to commit infractions in recruitment into the government Ministries, Departments and Agencies, declaring ‘waiver is a fraud’

Alexander Davis | ConsumerConnect

The House of Representatives, in the National Assembly (NASS), Abuja, FCT, has condemned the Federal Character Commission’s (FCC) use of waivers to instigate alleged infractions in recruitment into the government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

ConsumerConnect had reported the FCC had granted the government agencies to conduct recruitment “without advertising the job vacancies” which is the procedure for recruitment into government services in Nigeria.

The Federal lawmakers decried the process, which they noted had thrown up the current investigation into alleged mismanagement of personnel recruitment and gross mismanagement of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

The House Adhoc Committee has been probing alleged job racketeering in MDAs over the past week.

As earlier announced, Joseph Olayeni, Chairman of Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN), Wednesday, August 9, 2023, also   appeared before the Representatives’ investigative panel.

Speaking on the purported mismanagement of the recruitment process into several MDAs, Amobi Ogah, a member of the Adhoc Committee, said some government agencies “deliberately” had used waiver on advertisements to carry out employment racketeering.

Olayeni, however, said there was nothing fraudulent or corrupt under his watch at the Energy Commission, according to report.

But Yusuf Gagdi, Chairman of the House Adhoc Committee, declared that the controversial “waiver is a fraud because agencies are hiding under waiver to recruit their family members, to recruit their friends, to recruit those that give them money, to sell slots, etc.”