Job racketeering: Senate contemplates stiffer penalties for culprits

Ignatius Okorocha, Abuja

Following the ongoing irregularities and abuse of Federal character principles in job creation by Agencies of government, Senate is considering stiffer penalties to end job racketeering.

This was revealed by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Character and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Senator Allwell Onyesoh (Rivers East) after a crucial meeting of the committee with Chairperson and management of Federal Character Commission in Abuja yesterday.

According to Senator Onyesoh, ” it is sad that at this time in the nation’s history,Nigeria is sitting on a keg of gun powder and people react to issues based on emotion and Nigerians have gotten to a point where they no longer look at issues deeply, but behave the social media way; you just see something, you move it on, copy and send to the next person. Nobody tries to clarify, no investigation any more”.

He noted that this is something that is very dangerous and it is easy to ignite a place.

” A simple statement like, oh this thing is out we are not getting it. There is job there, they are employing secretly, is enough to cause problem.

“And the purview of FCC covers that. We felt it is proper to call them and we sit down, dot the ‘I’ and cross the ‘t’, make every of their activities more transparent, more glaringly clear for people to see. We want to open up the space,” he noted.

The chairman added,”the essence of the federal character situation is to create unity, fairness and equity, adding that “you can’t have that if someone is feeling rejected, feeling not carried along.

“You must put some sanctions if you want things to work. We are considering stiffer penalties; there must be consequence for everything” adding that “this is one of the few committees that derives it’s power from the constitution”.

Earlier, the executive chairperson of FCC, Dr. Muheeba Farida Dankaka, denied that there is job sales under her watch, adding that it happened in the past when “the place was like a market place”.

She urged the committee to help the commission   correct the past wrongs and help them with their budget as the 2024 capital approved for them by the National Assembly was reduced to zero by Budget and Planning Office.