FG considers fresh measures to check illegal recruitment

The Federal Government is considering a bouquet of new measures
to check the increasing rate of illegal recruitment among the
ministries, departments and agencies of government.

The measures to be rolled out soon, it was learnt, would put to
an end the practice by the agencies of government of conducting
recruitment without recourse to the laid down procedures.

Many government parastatals including the Central Bank of
Nigeria, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, the Federal
Inland Revenue Service, and the Nigerian Prisons Service, among
others have been rocked by recruitment scandals.

TheNigerialawyer reported exclusively last week that following a
review carried out by the Ministry of Finance, 183 out of 185 MDAs
had recruited 13,780 workers in recent years.

Out of the number, 6,917 workers were recruited without any
formal approval; 2,314 were employed by seven universities with
governing council approval; while only 4,549 had correctly obtained
approval from the Office of the Head of Service and Federal
Character Commission.

The review showed that out of the 185 agencies, only the Nigeria
Police Force and the Nigerian Army sought approval for their
recruitment.

But speaking on the development, the Finance of Finance, Mrs.
Kemi Adeosun, said that the MDAs were not allowed to conduct any
form of fresh recruitment without obtaining a prior written
approval from the Budget Office of the Federation.

She said that the rate at which government agencies conducted
such recruitment was worrisome, adding that it was responsible for
the many cases of ghost workers in the public sector.

She said, “What we’ve found out is that many agencies have gone
ahead to recruit illegally.”

“We are going to be very strict on agencies as this is where the
ghost workers are created because those employed do not have any
job specification. This government is very determined to stamp that
out. There would be some measures to be rolled out to address
that.”

The Federal Government is considering a bouquet of new measures
to check the increasing rate of illegal recruitment among the
ministries, departments and agencies of government.

The measures to be rolled out soon, it was learnt, would put to
an end the practice by the agencies of government of conducting
recruitment without recourse to the laid down procedures.

Many government parastatals including the Central Bank of
Nigeria, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, the Federal
Inland Revenue Service, and the Nigerian Prisons Service, among
others have been rocked by recruitment scandals.

TheNigerialawyer reported exclusively last week that following a
review carried out by the Ministry of Finance, 183 out of 185 MDAs
had recruited 13,780 workers in recent years.

Out of the number, 6,917 workers were recruited without any
formal approval; 2,314 were employed by seven universities with
governing council approval; while only 4,549 had correctly obtained
approval from the Office of the Head of Service and Federal
Character Commission.

The review showed that out of the 185 agencies, only the Nigeria
Police Force and the Nigerian Army sought approval for their
recruitment.

But speaking on the development, the Finance of Finance, Mrs.
Kemi Adeosun, said that the MDAs were not allowed to conduct any
form of fresh recruitment without obtaining a prior written
approval from the Budget Office of the Federation.

She said that the rate at which government agencies conducted
such recruitment was worrisome, adding that it was responsible for
the many cases of ghost workers in the public sector.

She said, “What we’ve found out is that many agencies have gone
ahead to recruit illegally.”

“We are going to be very strict on agencies as this is where the
ghost workers are created because those employed do not have any
job specification. This government is very determined to stamp that
out. There would be some measures to be rolled out to address
that.”