The House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee investigating job racketeering in federal agencies yesterday frowned at what it called gross violation of the provisions of the laws governing employment in the country. 

The committee also demanded an explanation from the management of the Nigeria Institute for Trypanosomiasis and Onchocerciasis Research (NITR) on why it refused to abide by the approval granted it by the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (HoCSF) and the Federal Character Commission (FCC). 

The committee was particularly not happy with the Nigeria Council for Good Science and Technology for not respecting the constitutional provision on federal character, employing its foundation workers from only two geopolitical zones of the country. 

The council’s Registrar, Veronica Ekeh, had told the committee that the council, which was established in Year 2020, employed 65 staff members for its take-off. 

But a member of the committee, Wole Oke, noted that the employment of the 65 workers did not consider the provisions of federal character, as contained in the 1999 Constitution, as amended. 

Oke said: “This agency recruited its staff without obeying the provision of Federal Character, which is a constitutional requirement, and the Federal Character Commission gave them certificate of compliance. 

“On what basis was the certificate issued when they failed to comply with the provisions of the Constitution? We have to take this matter seriously. 

“This recruitment should not be validated because it violates extant laws. You cannot be employing people to start a new agency that will be funded by tax payers’ money when the Nigerian community is not represented.

Committee Chairman Yusuf Adamu Gagdi also queried the issuance of the certificate of compliance to the agency when it failed to comply with the provisions of the law. 

Source: The Nation