48 sacked workers legally recruited, FCC contradicts NEMA

The Federal Character Commission (FCC) has disagreed with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) over the sack of 48 workers recruited in 2019.

FCC told Daily Trust on Wednesday that due process was followed in the recruitment.

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In 2019, NEMA, under the leadership of its erstwhile Director General, Engineer Mustapha Maihaja, hired the 48 staff following a recruitment exercise which started in 2018.

However, the new management in NEMA said the recruitment was faulty.

The appointment letter, seen by Daily Trust, was dated December 24, 2019 and signed by Maihaja.

Investigation by Daily Trust showed that recruitment was conducted by the Public Service Institute of Nigeria, after an approval by the Board of the agency, chaired by Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.

However, a copy of letters seen by Daily Trust showed that the Agency cancelled the same recruitment in January 2021 over alleged non-adherence to “the laid down rules and regulations guiding recruitment into the civil service.”

The FCC told Daily Trust that the recruitment actually took place and it complied with the procedures laid down for recruitment into the civil service.

In a response to Daily Trust’s enquiry, Abdullahi Adamu Idris, the Special Assistant to the Executive Chairman of the FCC, said the Commission granted a waiver for advertisement to NEMA on February 20, 2019 to employ 54 new staff and renewed the waiver for advertisement on August 28, 2019.

Acting on the waiver, Idris confirmed that FCC issued a Certificate of Compliance dated November 29, 2019 to NEMA for 48 candidates, through a letter with reference number FCC/099/s.311/11/166.

“In our view, the Agency (NEMA) has substantially complied with the procedures laid down for recruitment. The Federal Character Commission (FCC) was represented as observer (Monitor) at the interview,” Idris stated.

Daily Trust’s investigation also showed that FCC has invited NEMA two times to explain the circumstances surrounding the cancellation of the recruitment but NEMA has not honoured the invitations.

The affected employees have petitioned the Federal Character Commission (FCC), the Senate President, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment and other relevant agencies.