There were reports last week of how some National Assembly members
(Senate and House of Representatives) cornered some jobs for their
constituents if not wards from some government agencies including
Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN and
others. Before now, there were complaints of such job diversion by the
high and mighty in several “juicy” government agencies around the
country, including the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC
and the Nigeria Communication Commission, NCC. These organisations pay
preferential salaries and obviously have better working conditions.
This reality is worsened by the already widely known but unfair
emoluments for public sector workers especially the politicians. The
same politicians who are caressed with all sorts of allowances still
turn around to hijack job openings in the public sector. For
legislators, it is even more worrying. The agencies and ministries
which they are supposed to oversight are the same ones they pressurise
the leadership to absorb their nominees. Pray, how will the oversight
mean anything? The agency’s management has paid in kind; therefore the
Nigerian public will be shortchanged as always because of the
pecuniary benefit of a few.
We have argued before that already it appears the Nigerian state was
set up to feed whoever finds his or her way into government. Today, we
are doing a budget of 70 percent which pays remuneration of different
subheads to public servants then the miserable balance for the rest of
us, including the public servants. We will be deluding ourselves if we
think we can find developmental momentum from this kind of reality.
But what is more, how do we bring serious conversation to the issue of
job racketeering to the fore. Two weeks ago media reports told of how
people pay cash up to N1.5 million to secure public sector jobs.
Depending on the organisation, it may go higher. There was a
particular man who gathered N700, 000 to secure a job as a teacher in
a Federal Capital Territory, FCT secondary school. He failed. His
extortionists demanded more. This is the thing with us, is it then
possible after securing such jobs for the applicant to discharge his
duties without fear or favour? Is it not obvious that the man is
getting the job for the money and will do anything while on the job to
make up for the payout including stealing? Is it not in this country
that people get salaries from different agencies and ministries both
at federal and state levels? A person may be resident in Germany but
getting salary alerts from ten different government agencies for
different salary levels.
We have a lot of work to do but most of it rests squarely on the
shoulders of the president. President Muhammadu Buhari does not
control the legislature, however, how about the agencies that peddle
quid pro quo employment racket? What has happened to those kinds of
agencies? Why should big men and women including politicians find ways
to upset the system just so that their wards will get plum jobs with
the government, yet the head of the government has not taken any
action?
Granted our capacity for bad behaviour has risen to unbelievable
levels. We have simply normalised illegality and even attempt to
flaunt it. We cannot just continue to divert jobs made to be openly
contested for to a few persons who will then share the jobs to whoever
meets their fancy. It is sickening. Let jobs be openly contested by
young people who need the jobs. Even if there is some form of
affirmative action, it should still be contested within the locality
of what is made available to such community. It should not simply be
left to big men and women to decide.
Our leaders should encourage constituents to learn how to compete in
an open process. If you are allotted ten jobs, make it open and let
everyone who needs the job contest for it. There is nothing ethically
wrong with slots, but let all eligible people contest fairly within
the locality. It is possible.
The president and the appropriate agencies should put their foot down
to ensure what is right is done; when complaints like this occur, the
right agency to complain to should be open and unambiguous. They
should be ready to treat all complaints with some diligence and open
mind. Nigerians should equally desist from piling pressure on their
representatives to do even illegal things. To be fair, political
office holders are put under tremendous pressure to bend the rules.
Then these office holders should shed their celebrity status. They
make it look like if you want to be rich then join government. But it
is not true.
