ODAHIEKWU OGUNDE, Yenagoa
The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide has expressed concern over the alleged hijack and illegal sale of employment slots meant for Bayelsa State indigenes in federal ministry and parastatals to strange and unknown names as beneficiaries.
The IYC urged the Federal Government to stop the ongoing recruitment process which it described as “faulty and suspicious.”
Its spokesman, Ebilade Ekerefe, in a statement on Wednesday, expressed concern over the list of beneficiaries of the employment slots meant for Bayelsa indigenes at the Federal Ministry of Interior.
He also claimed that the same scam was allegedly perpetrated at parastatals under the ministry such as the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Correctional Centres, Fire Service and Immigration Service.
Ekerefe said investigation conducted by the youths’ body indicated that the list released from the Federal Ministry of Interior was either hijacked by employment racketeers or sold out by those involved in the recruitment processes to indigenes of other geopolitical zones.
Ekerefe called on the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbeshola, to order a halt to the recruitment processes and review the list of beneficiaries from Bayelsa and other states of the Niger Delta.
He noted that despite the discovery and calls for correction, the Minister of Interior should liaise with the state government through the Ministry of Labour and Productivity to source for names of genuine and qualified Bayelsa indigenes to avoid pitfalls of employment racketeering and fraud.
He also called on members of the National Assembly elected to represent various constituencies of the state to rise and counter the fake list and names attributed as beneficiaries of the ongoing employment opportunities by the Federal Government.
Ekerefe described the employment scam and hijack of Bayelsa indigenes slots as a matter of urgent national Importance.