It is a worrying dimension of the so-called national question that the process leading to the employment of 4, 904 civil servants by the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) while former President Goodluck Jonathan was in power has been questioned by the agency. The FCSC said the recruitment of the workers between 2013 and 2015 was untidy. No fewer than 247 of them have reacted with a petition to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) alleging that there was a plan to sack them based on ethnic considerations.
It is a picture of crisis that could have been avoided if the relevant players had played the game by the rules. A report said the Acting Executive Chairman of the FCSC, Dr. Shettima Abba, had in a May 3 letter queried the body’s chairman, Mrs. Joan Ayo, in connection with the employment of the affected civil servants.
Abba’s letter shed light on the issues involved in the review of the process by which the said workers got their jobs. He stated: “The Federal Character Commission has viewed and observed with concern the recruitment exercises undertaken by the Federal Civil Service between 2013 and 2015, which glaringly are lopsided and grossly abused the principle of Federal Character to which all institutions have subscribed. The recruitment which recorded the engagement of about 4,904 workers, threw away all common sense and wisdom of national cohesion and integration by favouring some states to the detriment of others.”
Abba added: “We are worried that if this trend is allowed to continue, then some sections of the country may not only feel alienated but may feel insecure by the action of people in authority. It is inconceivable and a gross injustice for a geopolitical zone to be allocated 33.6 per cent of the total candidates recruited as against 26.2 per cent for three zones combined, North-East, North-West and North-Central.”
The bottom line, according to the letter, is that “all processes must involve the Federal Character Commission for advice and strict adherence to the principle of federal character as contained in our circular on guidelines and procedure for recruitment.”
It may well be that the untidiness was influenced by political actors and political considerations, which makes the matter worthy of an objective probe. It is a further cause for concern that beyond the issue of fidelity, or infidelity, to the federal character principle, the FCSC spokesman, Dr. Abel Oruche, reportedly raised the question of another irregularity, namely, that the agency’s ongoing staff audit revealed cases of employment not based on vacancies.
How it happened that workers were employed to positions which were not vacant is puzzling, to say the least. The implication, Oruche pointed out, is that since the dubious appointments were made without evidence of vacancies acknowledged by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, they were, therefore, not budgeted for. He maintained that the objectives of the FCSC staff audit included the identification of irregular employees and delisting them from the Integrated Personnel Payroll System.
There are positives in the commission’s position, but there may well be negatives as well. While it is deplorable that the employment irregularities in question reflect a possible abuse of federal power under the Jonathan administration, it is hoped that in an effort to clear the mess the agency does not create a fresh mess. In other words, there is no room for victimisation under the current government because that would also constitute an abuse of power.
In the final analysis, this is a systemic storm prompted by a politicisation of procedure, and a satisfactory resolution demands fair play.
Thenationonline