Crisis rocks Senate over secret recruitment

Crisis is allegedly brewing in the Senate over the employment slots allocated to the lawmakers by some federal agencies. Some aggrieved senators have vowed to resist the sharing method allegedly adopted by the leadership of the Senate to allocate the slots. According to sources, many of the lawmakers are particularly bitter that their leaders allegedly shared the 100 slots allegedly given the Senate by FIRS among themselves. A ranking senator from the North-West said, “We have information that one of the leaders gave 26 slots to people in his senatorial district. There is a problem in the Senate already, because the leadership has cornered jobs meant for the entire Nigerians. “Does it mean that you must know a senator before you get a job? Nothing is being done on merit. How will you get the best brains? “The implication of this is that many people are being offered employment without undergoing any interview. “They give them appointment letters because they know the leaders of the Senate. How can a single senatorial district get 26 slots when others have nothing?” Speaking with journalists on Tuesday, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Character, Danjuma La’ah, said he was aware that some agencies had been boasting that nothing would come out of the (secret recruitment) probe because they had allegedly reached out to the leaders of the Senate. “The committee is probing the allegations that some agencies had been secretly recruiting without advertising the jobs. We are aware that some of the agencies are selling employment slots for as much as N1.5m when we have children who have not got jobs since they graduated. Some have become bandits and terrorists because the jobs meant for them have been cornered by some greedy people. Young educated Nigerians are joining Boko Haram because of a lack of jobs.” The committee last week started investigating the allegations of secret recruitment by some of the federal agencies. They include the FIRS, NDLEA, NSRDA, NOUN & FCSC. You'd recall that, two days ago, we reported of a man who alleged committed suicide due to unemployment.