From Okwe Obi, Abuja
The House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating job racketeering in Ministries, Department, and Agencies (MDAs), has frowned at the slow move of about 300 parastatals to appear before it and give account of their stewarship.
The Committee Chairman, Yusuf Adamu Gagdi, at a continuation of the hearing yesterday in Abuja, warned that the committee would not hesitate to wield the big stick on any agency that would fail to appear before it.
“Those that will appear, will be happy. But those that will not appear will have a lot to face.
“So, we are not worried. We are not disturbed. We have challenged our secretariat to keep in touch with them. We have done the publication today and given reference to where the publications are.
“No agency has any excuse for not appearing before us. Whether our letter reached you or not, we have used the media to reach out to you. So, they should buy the newspaper publication of today.
“They will see our invitation and date of appearance. For those that have defaulted and we have not published their names, it means the committee has already taken a decision about them.
Meanwhile, Gagdi questioned the lopsided employment in the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria (NPGMC), noting that Benue, Rivers Kebbi, Ogun, Ebonyi, Kano, Oyo, Taraba were the least represented.
In his response, NPGMC President Prof Akin Osibogun, noted that it got waiver to employ 37 in 2019 but it was able to recruit 22.
But Gagdi argued further that the recruitment of 22 persons did not address the gaps of underrepresented states.
“Your employment process did not address your graphic representation of the deficiency because if Abuja, Taraba, Enug, Rivers, Kebbi, Ogun, Ebonyi, Kano, the recruitment exercise need to address those deficiencies of those states that were under represented
“Those states should have been the ones to be given more slots. But in your list of recruitment I have not seen it. It does not address the issue you used in your certificate of waiver,” he said.