The House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee probing the alleged job racketeering and gross mismanagement in Nigeria’s Federal Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) has demanded that the National Institute for Sport provide its nominal analysis of staff representation and reappear on Monday for further interrogation.
Chairman of the House ad-hoc committee, Hon. Yusuf Gagdi, gave the ruling in Abuja following some discrepancies on job recruitment as observed in documents presented by the Sport institute.
Hon. Gagdi questioned the Institute Director General on why Oyo State, where he came from, recruited six staff from the 22 recruitment slots meant for the thirty six (36) States of the federation. The Gagdi-led ad hoc committee said it is interested in helping agencies fill vacancies and are equally interested in making agencies do the needful.
“Whatever interaction we are going to have today is to identify gaps from your side in terms of federal character balancing and other related institutional defects,” Hon. Gagdi said.
“So that going forward we will be able to know when to advice you and how to assist you in that regard”, said the chairman.”
Earlier, Director General of the National Sports Institute, Prof. Olawale Moronkola, while making his presentation said in 2023 the institute recruited twenty two staff.
“As at 2015 we have staff strength of 137 in 2023 our staff strength now is 151, in 2017 we recruited 7, in 2019 we recruited 20 and in 2023 we recruited 23,” Prof. Moronkola stated.
Meanwhile, the National Institute of Technology Acquisition and Innovation who also appeared at the hearing while defending recruitment so far made said in 2018 it was given approval based on the number of personnel required.
Director General of the institute, Dr Ahmed Ibrahim, said that the institute required more than thirty senior staff to be employed but at the end of it only twenty approval was given to it.
“The waiver of that approval and names of the staff, state and local government, where they come from were all contained the document submitted to the committee,” he said.
He said between 2015 till date, the institute have employed only 45 staff. While nothing that the challenges are documented, he pleaded for the committee’s assistance as the institute have an establishment position of close to 300 staff members of staff.
“And in 2020 we were able to get financial provision to employ, when we started the process COVID came, then a circular was issued that we had to hold on and at the end of the year the whole money left,” he added.
“It took us almost 3 years to be able to get this fund to start the employment process, so we had to come back to ‘square one. And up till now, staff are going and the younger ones are not coming up, the older ones are going.”
“So there is a serious issue of succession challenge in the office. We feel the committee may be able to assist us. But currently we have an approved establishment from the Head of Service to employ 90 staff and we are in the process to see how we get the waivers and necessary funding,” he said.
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