Osinbajo, SGF Give Conflicting Positions on Secret Recruitments By FIRS, CBN, Others
Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Vice President of Nigeria[/caption]
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachar Lawal, have given conflicting statements on the secret and illegal recruitments into the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria Prisons amongst other federal agencies.
While the vice president insists that there were no secret recruitments into the affected organisations, the SGF however countered that the recruitments were not illegal.
Speaking in an interview with some journalists in Abuja, the Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President, Mr. Laolu Akande, refuted the claims, describing them as inaccurate. He rather stated that the government was sanitizing the recruitment process and indeed, the public service systems to make them more transparent.
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“These reports are inaccurate. What we heard is that government is working to ensure that we develop going forward in more transparent process. We are committed in going forward to ensure that some of these procedures are refined, fine-tuned and made to become more transparent,” he said.
However, the SGF said, “Why is it illegal? I would not know. What I know is that there is something they call “replacement”. Here we do not employ and I have never employed, but I do not know why they call it illegal because obviously, the law allows the CBN to recruit its staff and usually what they do not understand is that before you are allowed to recruit, you must get permission from the Federal Character Commission and you must, if it is the civil service, obtain a permission from the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and you must show proof that you have included it in your budget and it has been appropriated for by the national assembly.
“As far as I know, these are conditions precedent for employment. Those that do not have boards which are under us would write to us and also show us the waiver from either the Federal Character Commission or the Head of Service before we ask those ones to go ahead. So, what else is illegal, I do not know about it. I really do not know, but any parastatal that has the resources, and they need, and they have met the requirements for employment and they are employing, gladdens my heart as a person because that is the “Change Agenda”; it is in our manifesto -jobs, jobs, jobs. So, we thank them for that but it is important that they follow due process.”
