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14 Aug

JOB RACKETEERING AT FEDERAL CHARACTER COMMISSION: CACOL CALLS FOR THOROUGH INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION OF ERRING OFFICIALS

The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, CACOL, has called on anti-corruption agencies for necessary investigation of corrupt practices of job racketeering involving some members of staff and management of Federal Character Commission (FCC).

 

In a release issued by CACOL and signed by Tola Oresanwo, the anti-corruption organization’s Director, Administration and Programmes on behalf of its Chairman, Mr. Debo Adeniran, he stated, “It would be recalled that while testifying at the ongoing investigative hearing by the House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies, Parastatals, and Tertiary institutions on mismanagement of the  Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), one Mr. Haruna Kolo, an ex-aide to the Chairperson of the Federal Character Commission, Muheeba Dankaka, confessed to selling federal employment slots to job seekers at the directives of his former boss”.

 

Haruna Kolo who was a former Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System desk officer at the Federal Character Commission, in his testimony, alleged that Ms Dankaka set up a job racketeering ring, collecting money from job seekers. He stated that to avoid digital trails, the FCC boss instructed him to transfer all the money to his (Kolo) personal Ecobank account and pay her in cash which he did a couple of times in her house.

 

On the allegations of job racketeering, Kolo alleged that the FCC Chairman instructed him to liaise with one Mr Shehu who is a personal driver and Personal Assistant to the Taraba State Commissioner. He also claimed that Shehu is the one that brought those who paid money to his (Kolo) account for job, some paid N1m, others N1.5m, all to his personal Ecobank account which he later gave to the Chairman in cash through POS, so there is no evidence of transfer. Mr Kolo also said the chairperson compensated him, alongside three others, with a job at the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) for the assignments he carried out. He also claimed that one of the beneficiaries of the AMCON job  is a sibling of Mrs Dankaka.

 

As much as we agree that the testimony of Mr. kolo is highly revealing, we are not in any way surprised by his allegations and confessions. The reason is because we had stated in one of our past releases that job racketeering is now the other of the day in virtually all the Ministries and Parastatals of government. It is far easier for a camel to pass through the hole of a needle than for a qualified, young and academically sound Nigerian to secure employment in any of these Ministries based on merit or even Federal Character which in some cases has been used to employ job seekers at the federal level. It is now a norm to sell employment slots, promote mediocrity, employ those with god-fathers, and perpetually keep the children of the poor in the unemployment web just because they cannot afford the humongous amount of money being demanded by these racketeering syndicates domiciled in all federal, state and even local government services, thereby impoverishing them and their parents who have invested a lot on their education.

 

It should be noted that the Federal Character Commission is a creation of the Constitution with the power to ensure that the composition of the government reflects the federal character of the country. The commission serves as a clearing house for employment by all government agencies.

 

Section 14(3) provides that “The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few State or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies.”

 

Section 4 of the Federal Character Commission (FCC) Act gives the commission the power “to work out an equitable formula, subject to the approval of the President, for the distribution of all cadres of posts in the civil and the public services of the Federation and of the States, the armed forces, the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies, bodies corporate owned by the Federal or a State Government and Extra-Ministerial Departments and parastatals of the Federation and States.”

 

“However, over the years, the Federal Character Commission (FCC) has been embroiled in a number of corruption allegations and its primary responsibilities as quoted above has been abused, misused and denigrated contrary to the original intent of those that conceive the idea of its formation in the first place. The noble idea of fostering unity in the area of distribution of all cadres of posts in the civil and the public services of the Federation has now been shamefully and highly commercialized in a way that the highest bidders get the best of positions in these MDAs. This is official Bazzar at the federal level!!!

 

The anti-graft czar added, “We would have called for total scrapping of the Commission but considering the strategic and critical role of Federal Character Commission (FCC) operations in the country, we are seriously concerned about the enormity of corruption going on in the administration and operations of the Commission, therefore, we would like to commend the House of Representatives for carrying out this investigative hearing, we would also call on the federal government to quickly wade into the Commission’s administration with a view to sanitizing it. We would recommend immediate suspension of the Chair of the Commission and bringing all those responsible for these shameful and despicable acts to book. This is not the time for Anti-graft agencies to slumber; they should rather swing into action and prosecute all those that have been fingered in this revelation so as to serve as a deterrent. More importantly, we hope the allegations will not be swept under the carpet and that the House of Representatives ad hoc Committee should also beam its searchlights on all other MDAs of government.

 

 

Tola Oresanwo

Director, Administration and Programmes, CACOL

08141121208

cacolc@yahoo.com

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15 Jul

PRESIDENT TINUBU’S N500BN PALLIATIVE: NIGERIANS REQUIRE MORE EXPLANATIONS

The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, CACOL, has asked the President of the country to shed more light on his request for N500bn to be used to provide palliatives for Nigerians following the removal of petrol subsidy announced during his inaugural address on May 29, 2023, in response to claims that the subsidy regime favoured the rich more than the average Nigerians, among other reasons.

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In a release issued by the organization’s Director of Administration and Programmes, Tola Oresanwo on behalf of Mr. Debo Adeniran, CACOL’s Chairman, he noted, “It would be recalled that President Tinubu’s request was contained in a letter sent to the National Assembly and read during plenary by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas. In his letter, the President proposed an amendment to the 2022 Supplementary Appropriation Act, saying “The request has become necessarily important to, among other things, the source for funds necessary to provide palliatives to mitigate the effect of the removal of fuel subsidy on Nigerians. Thus, the sum of N500bn only has been extracted from the 2022 Supplementary Act of N819,536,937,815 for the provision of palliative to cushion the effect of petrol subsidy removal.”

 

According to the CACOL’s boss, “We believe Nigerians need to know more about the N500bn the President is requesting. He should make the details of how the money would be spent more clearly to the average Nigerian. Inasmuch as we are not against the provision of palliatives for Nigerians who have been negatively affected by the removal of the fuel subsidy, we are calling on the President to reveal the details of how the money will be spent”.

 

In a country where a humongous amount of money had been expended in the past years majorly on palliatives and the low number of people that benefitted from the said palliatives, it will be unthinkable for this administration to follow the part of the past administrations.

 

We are all living witnesses to the way and manner some foodstuffs that were meant to serve as palliatives for Nigerians were locked up in warehouses across the country by some greedy and selfish people in power at the detriment of pauperized, traumatized and famished Nigerians during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

To avoid the mistakes of the past administrations, the Tinubu-led government should publicize how it intends to spend the money, the names and locations of the beneficiaries, the modalities for disbursing the money and the conditions attached to the disbursement (if any), and other details that would set the minds of Nigerians at peace knowing fully well that the money would be used as planned”.

 

The CACOL Head adds, “Moreover, we observe that even if the names of those to benefit in the conditional cash transfer or whatever method the government wants to use to disburse the N500bn are published, the money may not impact significantly on the livelihood of the beneficiaries. If any palliative would be given, it should reflect in the cost of macro-economic products like petroleum but since the argument is that if petroleum is cheaper, it will be smuggled out of the country, then the palliative can be used to subsidize electricity, since it is not likely that electricity would be smuggled out of the country. It can also be used to subsidize the cost of building materials or telephony thereby having a direct impact on affordable housing and communication among the people. Reduction in prices of these products will affect everybody rather than selective conditional transfer to some privileged few that has been done in the past and nobody has openly acknowledged that it impacted positively on their lives”.

 

Tola  Oresanwo,

Director, Administration and Programmes, CACOL

cacolc@yahoo.com

08141121208

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16 Jun

BAWA’S INDEFINITE SUSPENSION: CACOL COMMENDS PRESIDENT TINUBU

15th June, 2023

 

Press Release

 

BAWA’S INDEFINITE SUSPENSION: CACOL COMMENDS PRESIDENT TINUBU.

 

The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, CACOL, has hailed President Bola Tinubu for approving the indefinite suspension of the Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, AbdulRasheed Bawa, from office.

 

In a press release issued by the anti-graft coalition’s Director of Administration and Programmes, Tola Oresanwo on behalf of its Chairman, Mr. Debo Adeniran, he noted, “It was reported that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has indefinitely suspended the Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, AbdulRasheed Bawa, from office, to allow for a thorough investigation into his conduct while in office following “weighty allegations” of abuse of office against him.

 

The suspension of the Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, AbdulRasheed Bawa, from office is a welcome development that is long overdue due to the sensitive nature of his office. We had earlier joined other Civil Society Organisations to call on the immediate Past President, Muhammadu Buhari to relieve Bawa of his appointment in order to allow for thorough investigations of allegations leveled against him.

 

It should be noted that we wrote the Senate not to confirm him based on the allegations leveled against him when he headed the Port Harcourt office of the anti-graft agency but the Attorney General smuggled him in and got the National Assembly to confirm him. Moreover, because of the way and manner the immediate past Acting Chairman of the agency, Ibrahim Magu was eased out of EFCC, we opined  that Magu was yet to be removed from the office permanently and that he was still the Acting Chairman of the agency. So by this action coming from the President, we have been vindicated as we have opposed Bawa’s nomination from the beginning.

 

“It must also be noted clearly, that we are not opposed to the commission’s mandate to fight corruption, but we are opposed to the seeming politicization of the agency under Mr. Bawa, its clear fixation on certain individuals in society, needless media trial, alleged corruption within the agency, and the manner in which EFCC officials act above the law by corrupting our judicial processes with impunity.

 

“We therefore commend President Bola Tinubu for heeding to the yearnings of the people by taking drastic action which the past administration found too difficult to take. This singular action by the President would send a note of warning to all other holding one position of authority or the other that they can be called to give account of their stewardship at any time.

 

“We would like to advise that the selection of the next Chairman of the Commission should be based on merit and political consideration should be downplayed. This will allow the agency to function and discharge its duties without fear or favour. The good work of fighting corruption to standstill by the agency should also be supported by the government”

 

 

 

Tola  Oresanwo

Director, Administration and Programmes, CACOL

cacolc@yahoo.com

08141121208

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