The President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has revealed how
the national assembly intends to end backdoor employments in the
country.
The Senate President said that the Upper Legislative
Chamber will accelerate the passage of the Existing Vacancies in the
Federal Civil Service (Prohibition) Bill, once it resumes in September.
This was contained in a statement signed by Saraki’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu.
Saraki
said in the statement that the Bill, which is currently due for Second
Reading, will be given priority as one of the Senate’s legislative
interventions to curb the increasing rates of illegal recruitment into
federal government agencies and parastatals.
The statement said,
“The Existing Vacancies Bill will put in place clear-cut procedures that
will help to curb and possibly end the trend of ‘silent or underground
recruitment.
“This country belongs to every Nigerian, and as
such, all vacancies that exist in the Federal Civil Service must be
properly advertised to give every Nigerian that meet the requirement a
chance to apply.”
Saraki further said that the objective of the
Bill, which was introduced by Senator Biodun Olujimi, the Senate Deputy
Minority Whip, is to make it an offence for a Federal Ministry, Agency
or Parastatal to fill existing vacancies in their organizations if such
vacancies have not been advertised publicly.
He added, “With this Bill, we will set time-frames for recruitment and the publication of recruitment in national dailies.
“This will make it the duty of the heads of government agencies and ministries to ensure compliance or face punitive measures.
“Additionally,
this Bill will help to ensure that the mandate of the Federal Character
Commission is followed to the letter, by imposing punitive measures on
those that choose to intentionally flout the law by embarking on secret
recruitment exercises within the MDAs under their purview.
“This illegal recruitment trend needs to stop, and when we resume, we will begin to work towards enshrining this in our laws.”