Reps Grill JAMB Registrar Over Alleged Employment Racketeering

The House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating employment racketeering by Ministries, Departments and Agencies and Mismanagement of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, IPPIS, has accused the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof Ishaq Oloyede of engaging in lopsided employment in the agency.
The Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Yusuf Gagdi, who stated this at the resumption of the investigative hearing of the committee on Monday maintained that MDAs who recruit without advertisement have contravened extant laws.
The Chairman of the Committee also advised the JAMB Chief Executive Officer against failure to advertise vacancies, adding that such a move could sideline many Nigerian citizens from recruitment into civil service.
Prof Ishaq Oloyede, who appeared before the ad-hoc committee on invitation told members that they did not advertise vacancies for 300 staff recently recruited because they wanted to meet up with the timeline for the exercise.
Prof Oloyede while reacting to questions by the lawmakers on several persons engaged in his agency explained that 42 drivers and other personnel numbering 150 were recruited.
The JAMB boss equally informed the lawmakers that over 1,700 ad-hoc staff were recruited because of exigencies in the establishment.
Responding to questions on the selection process to engage professionally qualified personnel, the Registrar explained that those recruited in his agency were qualified for the job, claiming that nobody was surcharged in the process.
However, the explanation by the JAMB Boss did not go down well with the lawmakers who expressed worry that JAMB’s refusal to advertise before recruitment might deny many qualified Nigerians the opportunity to apply for those vacancies.
The Chairman of the committee also blamed JAMB for alleged connivance with the FCC and other agencies to promote and encourage job racketeering in the country.
The House probe panel also demanded that the agency immediately submits to it the list of all staff employed between 2015- 2023 while decrying the lack of adherence to extant regulations of the nation’s public service on the matter.
Lawmakers said that based on documents available to them, the examination body had been undertaking employment without due process of advertisement and shortlisting qualified job seekers before letters are issued.
The lawmakers noted that the agency had been getting waivers for the recruitment of staff yet it failed to adhere to the provisions of the law on non-engagement of more than 100 staff annually, disclosing that the examination body in 2021 employed more than 300 staff in a single recruitment exercise without adhering to the extant provision of the law on the issue.