Reps summon TCN boss, Head of Service over ‘skewed recruitment’

The House of Representatives has mandated its committees on Federal Character and Public Service Matters, to invite the Head of Service of the Federation and the Managing Director of TCN to explain the alleged marginalization of Bayelsa State in ongoing recruitment exercises.

This followed the adoption and passage of a motion by Preye Influence Goodluck Oseke (PDP Bayelsa) at the plenary on Wednesday.

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Presenting the motion, the lawmaker said there is a need to address the alleged shortchanging of Bayelsa State in recruitment by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and Other Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government.

He said TCN is in the process of concluding a recruitment exercise in which over 400 applicants have been favourably considered.

According to him, only a few of such successful applicants are from Bayelsa State, despite the very many eligibly qualified applicants from the state.

He said: “Considering the youths’ restiveness on account of mass unemployment, this act of bias and uneven distribution of opportunities could negatively impact on unethical conducts perpetrated by youths of the state.

“The disequilibrium of the opportunities skewed against Bayelsa State is not only discriminatory but amounts to a clear breach of sections 14 (3) and (4) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) on the application of the federal character principle”.