Disappointed
with the recent illegal employment of sons and daughters of affluent Nigerians
by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in flagrant abuse of due process and
extant provisions of the law, I penned a piece: #CBNGate:
Let’s Arrest The Culture of ‘Na mu ne’, ‘Rankadede’ in Nigeria! where I x-rayed the twin culture of ingrained
nepotism and sycophancy inherent in Nigeria. The current essay is aimed at
brainstorming solutions: how to curb employment racketeering, influence
peddling in Nigeria. We yearn for a Nigeria where excellence, merit MUST not be
sacrificed in the altar of nepotism, godfatherism or quota system. All hands
must be on deck if we must rein in entrenched employment racketeering in
Nigeria. Stop whining, take action, and do something to birth the Nigeria of
your dream!
Before
tendering solutions, it is important we appreciate the meanings, ramifications of
employment racketeering and influence peddling. The former refers to the illegal
act of dolling out employment opportunities to individuals in lieu of money or
favours. Similarly, influence peddling refers to the illegal use of one’s
position or political clout, connections with persons in authority to obtain
favours or preferential treatment for another, usually in return for payment. Both
are tantamount to corruption, abuse of office. Without much ado, writer
attempts proffering solutions to this miasma stifling our dear country, Nigeria.
1.
To rein in endemic employment racketeering,
influence peddling and nepotism in employments in Nigeria, the employment process
must be transparent and due process strictly adhered to.
2.
Henceforth under no guise whatsoever shall
a Government Ministry, Department or Agency (MDAs) in the three tiers of
government (Local, State and Federal), embark on employment without prior ADVERTISEMENT on print and electronic
media. Even the so-called recruitments branded as ‘replacement’ must be
advertised and due process, best practice followed. In case you are wondering,
more often than not, ogas-at-the-top in Nigerian government establishment’s
offer automatic employment to their cronies under the guise of ‘’replacement’’,
effectively substituting their cronies for diseased, dismissed, or absconded
staff.
3.
Where possible, to ensure neutrality and professionalism,
the recruitment process may be subcontracted to a competent and independent
headhunting agency.
4.
Computer-based assessments must be administered
and configured in such a way that candidates will see their results immediately
they hit the submit or enter button. A situation where candidates sit for
assessments or tests and it takes weeks, plausibly months before they receive
feedback (a luxury in Nigeria), leaves room for manipulation (mago mago) as we
call it in our local parlance).
5.
Sale of Scratch Cards for employment at the
federal and state levels MUST be banned. It is unacceptable for Government
Agencies and Departments - the Nigerian Army, Navy, Air force, Police, Customs,
amongst others, to sell Application forms or Scratch Cards to prospective job-seekers
since these establishments have annual budgets for recruitment and training
which should offset the cost of application. For instance, prospective recruits
into the US/UK Army, Navy or Marines do not have to purchase application forms.
6.
The federal government should design a
one-stop portal where all job vacancies are advertised. Take a cue from the
United Kingdom’s JobCentre Plus or
Canadian Government’s Job Bank websites.
Both public and private sector job vacancies will be fed into this portal.
7.
Activities of the so-called private recruitment
agencies must be regulated. It is criminal to ask prospective job-seekers to
part with say, their first three months’ salary or to demand hundreds of
thousands of Naira before issuing an applicant his/her appointment letter. It is
also incumbent on employees to demand appointment letters upon taking up employment
as some nefarious organizations deliberately shy away from giving employment
letters to employees thereby using that lacuna to swiftly ease out the employee
if need be without legal consequences.
8.
The Nigerian government must check the
flagrant abuse of expatriate quota by multinational firms who offer jobs with
fat paychecks to less qualified expatriates while competent Nigerians wallow in
joblessness. As a matter of urgency, the
Nigerian government MUST investigate the printing and sales of CERPAC (Combined
Expatriate Residence Permit and Aliens Card) which was outsourced to an Indian
company – Continental Transfer Technique Limited (CONTEC). As an informed
security expert, it is my humble submission that contracting out such a
sensitive project to a foreign firm has dire national security consequences. I
recommend that the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) be empowered to print the CERPAC
in-house.
9.
The Federal government and the National
Assembly are urged to wade into the practice of Staff casualization (indirect slave
labour), undue discrimination, exploitation, harassment and victimization of
Nigerian employees often perpetrated on the guise of OUTSOURCING. In the United
Kingdom, a fixed term employee (Casual staff) is protected against unfavorable
treatment. The law says if s/he works for 2 years or more, such an employee is
entitled to the same redundancy rights as a permanent staff and should he work for
4 or more years, such an employee may be automatically deemed a permanent
employee. Also in the UK, the Equality Act 2010 otherwise known as the ‘Ageism
law’, makes it unlawful to discriminate against employees, job seekers and
trainees because of their actual, perceived age or that of someone with whom they associate. The
Nigerian establishment, National Assembly must take a cue from the aforementioned
best practice by enacting laws to protect workers from undue exploitation,
harassment, discrimination and harassment. It is not enough to have laws; we
must also ensure that our laws are not just mere paper-tigers.
10.
To
this end, those at the helm of affairs must guard against giving those caught
in the web of illegal/employment racketeering a slap on the wrist by simply redeploying
or sacking them. Diligent prosecution and punishment must be meted out to serve
as deterrence. Nigerians must be vigilant and eschew docility. God will not
physically descend from heaven to fix things He has empowered us to do
ourselves. If you are unjustly denied a position, promotion or whatever because
you’ve got no godfather, do not relapse, be resilient and ‘fight’. Thanks to
Social Media, you can take the matter up if you have concrete evidence.
Let’s
share this essay until it gets to the relevant authorities and ensure they take
action.
Written
by:
©
Don Okereke
March
2016
Follow
Don on Twitter: @DonOkereke
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