NAPO Raises Alarm Over Job Racketeering In Bonny

The Chairman, National Association of Plant Operators (NAPO), Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State, Comrade Harold Benstowe has lamented the spate of indiscriminate employment racketeering in the area.

NAPO, an affiliate of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Rivers State council, has its membership cut across both oil servicing and construction companies in the country.

Comrade Benstowe made the disclosure during an interview with The Tide in Port Harcourt, last Wednesday, adding that prospective job seekers in the area were made to pay between N150,000 and N200,000 before they could be offered job placement in Bonny.

He accused the Bonny Traditional Rulers Council of colluding with the Bonny Integrated Recruitment Centre, whose duty, according to him, was to shortlist candidates seeking employment opportunities in the area, to collect the money.

According to him, the Bonny Traditional Rulers Council has reportedly continued to engage in the recruitment matter through the Bonny Integrated Recruitment Centre, adding that instead of allowing the companies themselves to conduct the recruitments, the chiefs council allegedly prefers to sublet the recruitment to labour contractors.

He alleged that the labour contractors, with the aid of the Bonny Recruitment Centre, collect bribe money from the prospective job seekers and allegedly remits certain percentage of the monetary value to the traditional rulers council.

He further alleged that the perpetrators of this act prefer selling the job slots given to them and  sit at home to collect percentages of the salary from their clients at the end of the month.

The NAPO chairman described the act as criminal and barbaric, adding that a situation where people are subjected to pay money before they could be offered employment in the area was morally wrong and unacceptable. “People can not be denied employment opportunity to work in Bonny simply because they don’t have money to bargain for the job even when they are qualified for the position,” he added.

Comrade Benstowe recalled that he had made several attempts to stop the collection of money from job seekers in the area but that his effort yielded no positive results due to the interest of a cabal in the business.

He disclosed that on 6th, April, 2013 at the employment interview conducted by the Overseas Technical Services (OTS), a maintenance company with LNG Bonny, he stormed the company and  demanded that the interview be suspended because of the alleged bribery involving the short listed candidates.

The NAPO leader said that he did not know that the  action he took to halt the proposed interview, especially for the heavy duty operators, did not go down well with the bureau, adding that he was subsequently attacked in the process.

He threatened to stop at nothing in ensuring that the criminal act was stopped in the area, and called on the relevant anti-corruption and other security agencies to investigate the activities of the bureau, so as to give deprived people opportunity to work in the area.

Some of the prospective job seekers, who attended the OTS interview last Saturday and spoke to The Tide on phone confirmed that they paid huge sums of money before their names were short- listed for the interview.

According to them, the money varies from one job slot to the other, adding that their prayers are that the job be given to them at last.

However, when contacted on phone, the chairman, Bonny Integrated Recruitment Centre, Mr Opina Allison and Chief Sodien Jackmay who is  in-charge of employment matters at the Bonny Traditional Rulers Council in their separate reactions, denied having knowledge of such allegations and dealings.