FG threatens to sanction tertiary institutions over ‘illegal recruitment’

The federal government has threatened to sanction tertiary institutions violating the application of federal character principle in staff recruitment, insisting that such is mandatory.

The Director, Public Affairs and Communication of the Federal Character Commission (FCC), Dr Chuks Okoli, said this on Thursday in Abuja in a statement.

He noted that the commission has observed with dismay that some federal tertiary institutions now embark on staff recruitment exercise without recourse to the FCC saddled with the responsibility of ensuring equity, fairness and justice in consonance with Section 14 (B) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

He noted that the circular from the Office of the SGF did not say that federal tertiary institutions should not comply with Federal Character Principle.

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“Therefore, all the FCC guidelines must be strictly adhered to by any recruiting federal tertiary institution. For the avoidance of doubt, please refer to the commission’s handbook. Any person, MDA or federal tertiary institution, that carries out recruitment without abiding by the FCC’s recruitment guidelines and principles shall be committing an offence under Section 14, punishable under Section 15 of the act,” Okoli said.