Government job only for the ‘connected’

In the past two decades of Nigeria’s socio-economic history when jobs especially in the civil service became fewer than the number of seekers, children of ordinary Nigerians who are employable and want to be employed hopelessly lost out from available opportunities in the labour market. Things have so gone bad that government jobs are now exclusively for the ‘connected’. The ‘connected’ include family members, relations and associates of chief executives of government MDAs. Indeed, some government jobs are no longer for those whose parents or relations are not highly placed public officers. It has been public knowledge that recruitments by MDAs are done secretly and without adherence to laid down civil service rules. They are carried out secretly because of the corruption and illegalities involved in the process.

One of the covert patterns of recruitment in MDAs in recent times is called ‘replacement’. Most often, chief executives of MDAs engage in the ‘replacement’ form of recruitment when vacancy is naturally created by the retirement or death of some workers. In this case too, only the ‘connected’ benefit from what should ordinarily be an opportunity for the most suitable. Since only CEOs of MDAs will be privy to the vacancies created by either of the two mentioned factors, such information is kept secret even from other officials in the affected MDA so that the secret replacement is quietly concluded with little ‘noise’ and with only few people in the know. 

Apart from higher institutions of learning that still advertise vacant positions in newspapers, the practice has died long ago among MDAs in the three tiers of government even though secret recruitment runs contrary to civil service rules. The fact that MDAs guilty of this discriminative act get away with it strongly suggests a deliberate connivance between the MDAs, their Governing Boards and agencies responsible for ensuring due process including the Federal Character Commission (FCC) and the Budget Office; making them also as guilty as the MDAs. Nothing could have stopped such MDAs from allocating slots of employment vacancies to officials of these agencies who by their functions are supposed to be on the interview panels of the MDAs. It is probably because the ‘mouth’ of these agencies responsible for monitoring and regulating recruitment into MDAs have been shut that this anti ordinary Nigerian practice has lasted for this long.  

The undue discrimination by CEOs against the ‘unconnected’ group of Nigerians is gradually turning Nigeria into an oligarchy. As the undue favouritism developed further, not all jobs are today accessible to even the ‘connected’. For example, you have to be more or ‘most connected’ to get a job at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation (NNPC), the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), the National Insurance Health Scheme (NHIS), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and several other choice government agencies where salary structure in existence differs substantially from that of the main stream civil service. 

As job opportunities get fewer for the ‘unconnected’ among ordinary Nigerians and ampler for children and relations of the CEOs of MDAs, the scenario perfectly suggests a looming crisis that is only waiting to crop up among the present generation of youths in Nigeria. The situation where most graduates remain unemployed because they are not ‘connected’ while the few ‘connected’ ones are employed in choice jobs, sometimes changing jobs as often as they change their bathroom slippers, is better imagined. There appears to be little difference nowadays in terms of job opportunities between an ‘unconnected’ university graduate and a school drop-out. Indeed, a ‘connected’ applicant even without any qualifications stands a better chance.

The enthusiasm that used to adore the hopes of a young serving corps member has long been ruined by our collective injustices orchestrated by ethnicity, regionalism and bigotry under successive administrations in Nigeria. This sadly ‘justifies’ the widespread belief among young applicants that today’s job seeker needs to know someone in order to secure employment. Subhana-llah! 

All the reasons argued so far against secret recruitment suffice for Nigerians to support the recent bill passed by the Senate to criminalise secret recruitments in MDAs. For the first time, the bill will hold heads of government agencies responsible to ensure compliance or face punitive measures. The Senate promises to ensure that the bill is fast-tracked so that, it can quickly be passed. The Senate President Bukola Saraki said ‘This bill would definitely make every Nigerian to feel some sense that there is an opportunity to be able to apply for jobs and have the fighting chance’.

While leading the debate on the bill, Senator Olujimi said it had become common knowledge that employment in government parastatals in most cases was not based on merit ‘as God-fatherism, favouritism, nepotism and ethnicity have taken the front burner’. Also supporting the bill, Senator James manager, condemned the non-enforcement of the federal character principle. Senator Suleiman Adokwe noted that the lawmakers massively support the bill as most of them were being blackmailed by their constituents for looking for jobs.

A section of the bill reads in parts ‘Any officer, director or agent of the federal ministry, agency or parastatal, who directed, authorized, assented to or acquiesced to or participated in the commission of the offence, is a party to and guilty of the offence and is liable on conviction to the punishment provided for the offence, whether or not the federal ministry, agency or parastatal has been prosecuted for or convicted for the offence’.

While we encourage the lawmakers to complete all necessary legislative actions on the bill and send same to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent, we urge them to review the punishment of ‘a fine not exceeding N300, 000 or imprisonment for a term of not more than two years or to both’ prescribed for the offence. This does not sound deterring enough to dissuade potential offenders from engaging in an illegal act that is as criminal as secret recruitment. May Allah (SWT) guide leaders at all levels to aggressively explore non-oil sectors of the economy so that ample job opportunities will be created, and thus, exterminate existing discriminative tendencies against ‘unconnected’ job seekers, amin.