Barely four months after inauguration of the ninth National Assembly, leadership of the Senate is allegedly enmeshed in job recruitment scandal totally 100 slots.

The job recruitment, allegedly given to some key leaders in the National Assembly is not going down well with some senators.

A source familiar with the development said a top revenue-generating agency approved the allotment of 100 recruitment slots for senators.

He said rather than spread the recruitment as it was always done in the past, the leadership allegedly shared the plum slots. He claimed some presiding officers got over 20 slots each while over 100 members were shut out in the windfall.

The secret recruitment has already been conducted and names of successful candidates allegedly submitted. A senator who spoke on condition of anonymity said  the fact that the leadership had allegedly collected 100 slots and shared it among themselves “shows that we cannot win the war against lopsidedness that we talk about in the country.”

Another said: “An average senator who is not a member of the executive cannot even boast of giving a single job from any federal agency to his or her constituents.”

An aggrieved senator from the South South also queried: “Does it mean you must know a senator before you get a job?  Nothing is being done by merit and due process again. How will you get the best brains to do the jobs? The implication is that many people are being offered employment without undergoing any interview to test their capability. They just give them appointment letter because they know the leadership of the Senate. How can a single district get 26 slots when others have nothing? My expectation is that the slots should go round. I see no reason why each senator should not have a slot each.”

Already, Senate Committee Chairman on Federal Character, Mr Danjuma La’ah, has revealed that his panel will investigate the matter.

Senate Committee on Federal Character is charged with monitoring abuses of quota system and other irregularities in recruitment processes.

Speaking to some selected journalists, he said no intimidation or plans by the leadership of the Senate to stall the investigation will be accepted. He argued that based on the existing Standing Rules of the Senate, his committee was at liberty to institute an investigation into activities of any agency of government found culpable in employment racketeering.

He dismissed threat by agencies that the illegal recruitment probe would not achieve anything because  they allegedly carried leadership of the National Assembly along.

“I’m not aware any agency gave out employment slot to the Senate. The leadership has not told us that they received any slot. So, who did they give? As chairman of this committee, who is also representing Kaduna South, I was not in any way aware that we have been given any employment slot; so we are going ahead with our probe.

“I have taken it upon myself that I will probe deeply into the agencies’ claims and carry out an extensive investigation. We are going to expose all those tarnishing image of the Federal Government.

“We are aware some of the agencies are selling the employment slots at their disposal. They are commercialising employment, selling a single slot for as much as N1.5 million when we have children who have graduated from tertiary institutions who could not get any job for many years. It is not their fault. It is because of the situation of this country. Some people are just taking Nigerians for a granted. Our children are suffering,  running from one end to another in search of jobs. Some have become bandits and terrorists because the jobs meant for them have been cornered by some greedy people.

“When thousands of qualified graduates are looking for jobs some people will just be parking government jobs for their family members simply because they are in position of authority. They will even go ahead to give the jobs to  those who graduated with fake results.

“I don’t care (whether they gave out slots to leadership).  Is it the leadership that will give them the backing? The leadership knows that I am capable of doing my job that is why they gave me that responsibility.

“I’m using my sense to fish out the bad elements. It is not a leadership directive. There are rules and regulations guiding us as a committee. The affected agencies should either present themselves for clearance because I will not take it easy. Our people have suffered in bondage for long.”

On when the agency would appear before the committee to defend themselves,  La’ah said: “Never mind. They must appear soon.”

Spokesman of Senate, Mr Adedayo Adeyeye, did not respond to calls as at the time of filing in this report nor  respond to a text message.

Sun