National Telescope national telescope newspaper
Bose Adelakun |
A Professor of Economics at the University of Uyo, Edet Akpakpan has said an embargo on job recruitment creates avenue for job racketeering in government ministries and agencies.
This is as he advised President Bola Tinubu to lift the embargo on recruitment, adding that any agency that is in need of workers should be mandated to justify it to avoid frivolous recruitment.
According to him, placing an embargo stops agencies that legitimately needs more man power from recruiting.
Recall that former President Muhammadu Buhari suspended recruitment into the federal civil service since May 2020, citing the COVID-19 pandemic as reason for the ban.
On November 2021, the Vice Chancellor of Federal University, Lokoja, Professor Olayemi Akinwunmi, has appealed Buhari, to lift the embargo on employment across the country to enable them recruit more manpower.
However, on September 2022, a report credited to the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria emerged that the former President had lifted the employment ban on government’s MDA’s but the report was later debunked by the FRCN.
Earlier, in bid to further ensure adequate monitoring on employment, the Federal Government introduced the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
Despite efforts by the government to stop frivolous recruitment, ghost workers and racketeering of jobs have continued to thrive in the civil service.
Recently, Haruna Kolo who is an ex-aide to the Chairperson of the Federal Character Commission, Muheeba Dankaka, confessed to selling federal employment slots to job seekers at the directives of his former boss.
Speaking in an interview, Professor Akpakpan stated that job racketeering thrived as a result of prolonged ban on recruitment.
He said, “Our people don’t want to ask questions when they don’t know something, and that is the problem. You don’t place an embargo because the jobs that the government can create are based on needs. If there is a need, allow it, not to place an embargo.
“An embargo means you cannot employ when there is a need and that’s wrong. What the government should do is direct its MDAs and parastatals that there should be no frivolous employment and they should justify every employment. But the problem is that once a minister comes on board, they begin to share job slots. And you begin to see people calling themselves civil servants everywhere and some of them don’t even have desks.
“Embargo creates an opportunity for racketeering because people will begin to explore the ignorance of those desperate to get jobs. But if the economy was functioning, the pressure on people to fall victim to such things would reduce.
“So placing an embargo is wrong; the President must ensure it is lifted, and people should be allowed to come in and go out. It will allow for fresh blood and there may be genuine need.”
