House Probe: JAMB Registrar Gives Reasons For Employing 300 Without Advertising
The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB), Professor Is-haq Oloyede, has defended the decision of the commission to employ 300 staff without advertising the positions.
Professor Oloyede, who appeared before the House of Representatives on Monday, said the decision was to fill vacancies created due to retirement.
Oloyede said the agency did not violate the federal character principle in the job recruitment exercise it conducted from 2015 till date.
In his words, JAMB got a waiver from the relevant agencies to fill existing vacancies, adding that the board had five sets of recruitment in the period under review.
“We used the waiver because we believe the exigency of the time and the nature of our work deserved it. If we were to advertise for the 300, we wouldn’t have been able to meet up with what we needed them for”.
“I believe very strongly that it was very necessary at that time that we recruited and I assure you that we did not surcharge those who were qualified”.
He further explained that the alleged lopsided employment by the examination body was as a result of the need to fill vacancies in the over 40 offices nationwide, adding that most of the exercise was done in consultation with state governors.
The House of Representatives ad-hoc committee is investigating employment racketeering by Ministries, Departments and Agencies and mismanagement of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
The panel chaired by Yusuf Gagdi demanded that the agency immediately submit to it the list of all persons employed between 2015- 2023.
Gagdi accused JAMB of shortchanging the country, failing to avail Nigerians the opportunity to apply when the jobs were vacant.
He said that from the documents available to the probe panel, the examination body had simply filled job vacancies without due process including shortlisting and interview of job seekers.
He added that the examination body relied on waivers for staff recruitment without adhering to the provisions of the law on the nonengagement of more than 100 staff annually.
He further added that recruiting about 300 staff through waiver violates the federal character principle, adding that a waiver is to be granted only if an agency is collapsing.
Meanwhile, the committee also observed that 14 individuals at the Federal Character Commission (FCC) received salaries through IPPIS without being placed in any federal government agencies.
