House Vows to Stop Use of Waivers for Recruitment Exercise by MDAs

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The House of Representatives yesterday, vowed to abolish the use of waiver in recruitment exercises in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA) of federal government.

The Green Chamber noted that the abolishment of waiver became imperative because it breeds nepotism, favouritism and was subject to abuse.

It noted that Chief Executive Officers, Directors among others had abused the use of waiver by employing cronies, families and those in their good books.

The Chairman of the Ad hoc Committee on Job Racketeering, and Mismanagement of IPPIS, Hon. Yusuf Gagdi, stated this when the Registrar of National Post-Graduate Medical College (NPGMC) appeared before it in Abuja.

He was of the opinion that granting waivers in recruitment exercises by any MDAs was not for the good of the country, adding that waivers had been severely abused by various MDAs.

He said, “We will abolish the use of waivers, it is not for the good of this country, when they give you waiver, it is subject to abuse.”

The chairman explained that  any recruitment that would not follow due process in advertising such on the pages of national dailies would no longer be tolerated.

Gagdi, stated categorically that recruitment in MDAs should henceforth be advertised, insisting that any recruitment without advertising the same is unjustifiable.

Against this background, the lawmaker  called on MDAs to respect federal character in carrying out recruitment exercises to enable participation across board and to encourage fairness, justice and equity.

Gagdi described the action of NPGMC as unjustifiable by engaging in selective recruitment in some parts of the country without considering others.

His words: “Your action is unjustifiable, you have not respected the federal character. Your nominal roll keeps increasing while staff keep retiring.

On your recruitment list you have Borno, Yobe, Plateau that are not represented in your organisation.

“In your recruitment in 2021, you did not know that Sokoto, Borno, Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi among others have zero.”

He queried why the recruitments carried out was not shared among the state with zero representation.

Speaking, the Registrar, NPGMC, Prof. Fatiu Arogundade, said all anomalies in the previous recruitment as noted by the lawmakers would be corrected.

He said: “It is not that the college has not involved the people of the North East, we apologised and we will correct the anomaly in subsequent recruitment.”

Responding, a member of the committee, Hon. Ahmed Jaha said with the lopsidedness and exclusion of Borno and North East in the college recruitments, the Registrar was fueling Boko Haram.

According to him, “One of the reasons people join Boko Haram is what you are doing, by excluding Borno and other North East from the recruitment carried out.  I speak to express the disappointment of my zone and we will be citing your agency as the cause of Boko Haram.”