‘Secret, lopsided’ recruitments: Senate threatens MDAs

The Senate Committee on Federal Character and Inter Governmental Affairs has threatened that the National Assembly will invoke legislative sanctions against ministries, departments or agencies found to be engaging in secret and lopsided recruitments.

The committee asked heads of the MDAs to ensure that their recruitment exercises accommodate every qualified Nigerian from the six geopolitical zones of the country.

The Chairman of the committee, Senator Danjuma La’ah, issued the warning in an interview with journalists on Monday, after his panel’s engagement with officials of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies.

La’ah said the National Assembly would take the issue of lopsidedness in recruitments by the MDAs very seriously this year through aggressive oversight.

He said, “All along, our committee has not been taking the issue very seriously but now we are ready to ensure that the right things are done. We must follow the law during recruitments exercises and all geopolitical zones must be fairly captured.

“Our committee would ensure that we follow up where necessary through aggressive oversight no matter what it will take us. All the geopolitical zones have qualified Nigerians in all spheres of life. So there is no basis for lopsidedness in employment.

“The Senate is hereby emphasising that appointments must be given special considerations to ensure that geopolitical zones are adequately represented in the federal civil service. We will visit all the MDAs this year to audit their staff list. We will take drastic action against any erring agency. ”