Senate probes lopsidedness in recruitments, deployments by FG

The Senate on Tuesday mandated its Committee on Establishment and Public Service Matters to carry out a holistic investigation into alleged lopsidedness and infractions in recruitments and deployment of officers by the Federal Civil Service Commission, FCSC, and other related agencies.

The resolution followed the adoption of a motion to that effect sponsored by Senator Titus Zam (APC Benue North West) during plenary.

Leading debate on the motion, Senator Zam stressed the need to ensure compliance with the federal character principle in the FCSC, noting that the Commission was established to recruit and deploy officers with requisite qualifications into the federal civil service.

He added that “the major plank on which the Commission seeks to realize its vision of building a highly focused, disciplined, committed and patriotic civil service is the advertisement of vacancies for the ultimate and equitable recruitment of applicants into the Service”;.

The lawmaker, was however, disturbed that “counterproductive malady to favour certain groups and not consistent with the Commission’s vision, seems to have recently crept into the Commission as allegations of illegal recruitment or employment into the service is being reported”;.

Senator Zam further lamented that “this debilitating syndrome has so permeated the ministries, departments and agencies that virtually no ministry seems to be insulated from this ugly trend”;.

He quoted the Head of Service of the Federation, Dr Folashade Yemi-Esan, who told journalists ahead of the 2023 Civil Service Week in July that
the federal government had discovered 1,618 civil servants with fake employment letters.

Wondering why the introduction of Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System, IPPIS, meant to curtail and ultimately eliminate illegalities in the civil service, seems to be jeopardizing the objective, he noted that some government workers were capitalizing on insider abuse to undermine the efficiency of the system and to carry out ‘salary paddings’, and inclusion of ghost names in the payrolls, among others.

He, however, warned that if urgent action is not taken to ensure federal character principle and curb lopsidedness, the anomalies would weaken the cohesion in the civil service with attendant damage to governance and service delivery.