The approval by the Federal Character Commission to federal institutions to compromise the national recruitment process has elicited outrage in the senate, with Senator Smart Adeyemi describing it as an act of corruption.

The Senator representing Kogi West Senatorial District regretted that if the commission and the affected tertiary institutions were genuinely committed to the cause of the nation and the development of education, they would neither grant nor accept a waiver.

Adeyemi stated this while reacting to the petition by an erstwhile registrar of the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State, (name withheld) to the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions.

The registrar was before the committee following the termination of his appointment. He was reportedly sacked for recruiting no fewer than 300 workers, including two professors illegally on the basis of the controversial waivers from the commission.

Adeyemi stated “How would you employ somebody from Adamawa State when you don’t advertise? The school is not owned by the state government. How would you employ somebody from Bayelsa State when you don’t advertise? In fact, that man who gave you that approval should be prosecuted. It is corruption. You compromise and promise him that you will employ people from his village that is how you people destroy the system.

“How would you ask for a waiver in a federal institution where we have a large army of people who have no job and Federal Character Commission is granting a waiver for you so that you will pick people from your enclaves in a federal institution and you are talking about national unity? Even if you were granted that waiver, the person who granted it deserves to be prosecuted because there is no reason for it. Is it that we don’t have enough people for the jobs?”

Contributing, the committee chairman, Sen. Patrick Akinyelure (Ondo Central) decried the ugly trend in federal ministries, departments, and agencies, saying as the Ombudsmen of the Senate they come across such malaise frequently.

Akinyelure said, “About 90 percent of federal parastatals are asking for a waiver. So, this is what we have to bring to the attention of our FCC to look at it because the majority of Nigerians who graduated in recent times less than 10 percent is given employment as almost all parastatals chief executives ask for waivers.

“So, we need to take a stand as Senate of the Federal Republic to direct that whoever wants to employ, there should be no further use of waiver any longer. It is not only Federal University Oye-Ekiti that has been granted the waiver. I have seen bundles of waivers that have been granted to different institutions before this committee. It’s waiver everywhere. What I am saying in effect is we have to look at the procedure.”

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According to him, the legislature will ensure that even when waivers are granted, the recruitment would still be in line with the federal character principle of engagement.

“As the chairman of this committee, I am like the Chief Justice of the Senate. I read petitions from page to page. When I read all these things and see different things, I can’t take decisions alone, that is why my committee members need to be carried along,” said Akinyelure.

Recall that in the petition before the Upper House by the ethics committee chairman on behalf of the President of the Senate on last May, the aggrieved registrar accused the governing council and the vice-chancellor of wrongful termination of his appointment and wanted the university management to reinstate him.