A number of senators have been attending the various budget
defence sessions of their committees in the past one week armed
with the curriculum vitaes of their family members and
constituents.
Investigations by our correspondent revealed that most of the
legislators had been asking questions about the job opportunities
in the various ministries, department and agencies, obviously to
demand slots.
Officials of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, the Central
Bank of Nigeria and other agencies are allegedly under the most
pressure from the committees that have oversight powers over them
for job slots.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public
Petitions, Senator Ayo Akinyelure, on Tuesday asked the management
of the Public Complaints Commission to provide details of their
personnel profile.
He said, “We need a detailed analysis of of your personnel cost.
We need to know how many people are on level 18 and below. We also
know how many of them are exiting. It is possible for some dead
people to be claiming Nigerian money despite the agency being on
IPPS (Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System)
platform.
“We want Nigerian money to be paid to those who are working. Let
us know the number of those that have resigned and their grade
levels.
“As democratically elected representatives of the people, we
have people who are looking for jobs. Let the money be paid to
human beings not to ghost workers.”
The matter got to its peak when the Minister of Interior, Rauf
Aregbesola, led the agencies under his supervision to defend their
2020 budgets before the Senate Committee on Interior.
The panel showed great interest in the recruitment going on at
the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and other paramilitary
agencies under the ministry.
They even challenged the NSCDC to increase the number of new
recruits from 5,000 to 10,000, promising to make provisions in the
budget for 2020 to accommodate their salaries and allowances.
A member of the committee, Senator Chukwuka Utazi, said since
the police were having a staffing shortage the NSCDC should recruit
more people.
He said, “As politicians, when we visit our constituencies, our
people will be chasing us around with the printout of their NSCDC
online registration details. How many people are you going to
recruit?
“The police have said they are recruiting 10, 000 (constables).
The NSCDC, please recruit as many people as possible. It is very
important. By doing so, you are going to help in policing the
country. Secondly, it will also reduce unemployment.
“How much do we have in the SIP (social investment programme)?
It is about N37bn. It goes nowhere. So, let us use indirect means
to solve the problem which the SIP cannot solve.”
The same scenario played out at the budget defence session
organised by the Senate Committee on States and Local Governments
on Wednesday when a member told the officials of the Border
Communities Development Agency to also avail the panel with details
of their vacant positions.
Already, some members of the Federal Character Committee have
vowed to probe the alleged sharing of some employment slots
allegedly submitted by the FIRS to the Senate through the
leadership.