THE Senate Committee on Federal Character and Inter-Governmental Affairs has indicated that if the Ministries, Departments or Agencies of the Federal Government engages in secret and lopsided recruitment, the National Assembly will impose legislative punishment.
As a result, the committee requested that the heads of the MDAs guarantee that their recruitment activities include every competent Nigerian from the country’s six geopolitical zones.
Senator Danjuma La’ah, the committee’s chairman, delivered the warning in an interview on Monday, shortly after his panel met with officials from the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies.
The National Assembly, according to La’ah, will take the matter of lopsided recruiting by MDAs extremely seriously this year and will conduct aggressive supervision.
He said, “All along, our committee has not been taking the issue very seriously but now we are ready to ensure that the right things are done. We must follow the law during recruitments exercises and all geopolitical zones must be fairly captured.
“Our committee would ensure that we follow up where necessary through aggressive oversight no matter what it will take us. All the geopolitical zones have qualified Nigerians in all spheres of life. So there is no basis for lopsidedness in employment.
“The Senate is hereby emphasizing that appointments must be given special considerations to ensure that geopolitical zones are adequately represented in the federal civil service. We will visit all the MDAs this year to audit their staff list. We will take drastic action against any erring agency.“
