How Senate leadership hijacked jobs meant for Nigerians

Lawmakers in the upper legislative chamber have raised the alarm that leadership of the senate have hijacked about 100 employment slots from federal agencies for themselves and their cronies.

According to sources, many of the lawmakers are particularly bitter that their leaders allegedly shared the 100 slots allegedly given the Senate by the Federal Inland Revenue Service among themselves.

An aggrieved senator from the South-West, said on condition of anonymity, “We were given 100 slots by the FIRS but our leaders shared the slots among themselves.”

Another aggrieved senator said: “The secret employment is already tearing the Senate apart. A particular agency of the Federal Government was said to have offered 100 slots to the leadership. An average senator, who is not a member of the executive, cannot even boast of being given a single job by any federal agency for his or her constituents.

“We had information that one of the leaders shared 26 slots to people in his senatorial district. Problems are really brewing in the Senate because the leadership has allegedly taken jobs meant for Nigerians. Does it mean you must know a senator in Nigeria before you get a job? Nothing is being done by merit and due process again. How will you get the best brains to do the jobs?

“The implication is that many people are being offered employment without undergoing any interview to test their capability. They just give them appointment letters because they know the leadership of the Senate. How can a single senatorial district get 26 slots when others have nothing? My expectation is that the slots should go round. I see no reason why each senator should not have a slot each.”

Chairman of the Senate committee charged with ensuring employment complies with the federal character principle yesterday vowed to expose such lawmakers involved in the job racketeering.

Danjuma La’ah said: “I don’t care who they have given job slots to. Is it the leadership that will give them the backing? The leadership knows that I am capable of doing my job. That is why they gave me that responsibility,” he told journalists at the National Assembly complex.

He added: “As the chairman of this committee, who is also representing Kaduna South, I was not in any way aware that we have been given any employment slots. So, we are going ahead with our probe. I have taken it upon myself that I will probe deeply into the agencies’ claims and carry out an extensive investigation. We are going to expose all those that are tarnishing the image of the Federal Government.”