Recruitments without Due Process

Chinedu Eze

One of the major characteristics that marred President Buhari’s administration in the aviation industry is the lack of open advertisement for employment throughout the eight years of his administration, even though new persons were recruited every month into the various parastatals that made up the aviation industry.

The recruitments include workers from Level 8 to directors and incidentally the recruitments do not recognize federal character, which indicates that workers should be recruited from different parts of the country equally.

THISDAY carried out investigation on recruitment exercises that did not follow due process in the sector and found out that before the Buhari’s administration took over in 2015, there was recruitment process for aviation security (AVSEC) for the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN). This was advertised and young Nigerians applied for the job but this recruitment exercise was in the process when the new administration took over. The applicants, it was learnt, were dropped. The new administration did an entirely new recruitment, which was dominated by persons from a section of the country.

Few years ago Ethiopian Airlines announced that it wanted to train Nigerians as pilots, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for its long operation to Nigeria. The programme was allegedly usurped by the Ministry of Aviation, that presented the number of Nigerians to be trained and they were sent to Addis Ababa for the training.  After the training, Ethiopian Airlines, THISDAY gathered, wanted to organise a ceremony for the graduation of the pilots and also invite the media to cover it, but the Ministry of Aviation stopped all that because it did not want the names of those who benefitted from the training to be made public. They all came from one section of the country.

Every agency in the aviation industry since 2016 has record of new workers whose recruitment no one knew about. According to an inside source, “People will just come to the officer with appointment letter and tell you they have been employed and you are directed to put them in a department. There are a lot of such recruitments and many of them are not doing anything. What is very disappointing is that they will insist that they will only stay at some airports to work and I learnt that some of them don’t even come to work but they collect salary.”

Since 2016 the number of workers in every aviation agency has significantly increased and in Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), which is now National Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), the number has more than doubled; yet, it is not on record that there were anytime that vacancies were advertised or known recruitment process took place.

So, under this background it is not surprising about recent reports that there was secret recruitment going on at the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). What was galling about the recruitment, however, is that report indicated that people who are not qualified are being recruited into safety critical positions.

The report disclosed that most of the new employees do not possess the minimum requirement for the positions they are to fill and that the under-the-table recruitment exercise is concentrated on one geo-political region of the country.

NCAA performs critical regulatory function with highly trained personnel whose professional activities are monitored by bodies like the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) so every employment in the agency is scrutinized, especially in technical areas.

Despite these stringent conditions, there are reports that over 200 new employees were recruited by the NCAA and these recruitments are largely from one section of the country who dictate where they should be deployed to and what grade level they should be given as entry point, in flagrant contravention of the public service rules.

There were indications that similar recruitment took place in 2020, when newly recruited staff with REF: NCAA/DHR&A/03/1513/VOL.1/192 (name withheld) was given the offer of appointment as an Aviation Safety I on a Grade Level 12 NCAA Salary Scale (NCAASS), which is a contravention of the provisions of the NCAA Scheme of Service which provides that Aviation Safety (I) is for Grade Level 09, while NCAASS 12 is for the job description of Aviation Safety Inspector (III).

In reaction to the alleged lope-sided recruitment, the Head of Aircraft Safety (Director of Airworthiness), Kayode Isiaka Ajiboye, was reported to have resigned his appointment over alleged rot in the agency. Ajiboye tendered his resignation on March 30, 2023, and gave one month’s notice.

“Ajiboye’s resignation is not unconnected to the fact that almost all of the newly employed who were forcefully sent to the technical directorates with degrees such as Islamic studies and languages, will end up as misfits in the system and may compromise the safety standard he has established for civil aviation operation in the country. If care is not taken to review and reverse where necessary all employments made into the agency in the last one year, it won’t be long before Nigeria begins to experience air incidences and crashes,” a senior staff of the agency was quoted to have said.

Another staff who confirmed the recruitment, told THISDAY that in few years these persons who didn’t have technical knowledge and experience will begin to take important decision in the agency that may jeopardize safety in Nigeria’s airspace, adding that all the recruitments were coming from the Ministry of Aviation without the involvement of the agency.

When THISDAY called the General Manager, Public Affairs, NCAA, Sam Adurogboye to react to the report, he said that he would not react to it because nobody wrote a petition against the recruitment, noting that if there were such petition he would respond to it or issue a statement. “I see this as rumour, so I won’t comment on it,” Adurogboye said.