The Presidency has taken steps to end the recurring clandestine recruitment into Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). This followed series of reports that some Ministers, Permanent Secretaries and heads of Agencies were secretly recruiting children or candidates of cronies without due authorization.
On July 11, 2017, the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) issued a circular titled "Streamlining Procedures for Recruitment into the Federal Agencies" to relevant MDAs. The circular stated that "the attention of the President has been drawn to reports of massive and indiscriminate clandestine recruitments in MDAs in flagrant disregard of rules and established procedures for recruitment in the Public Service".
It further lamented that the development has "created negative effects on Government activities and efforts in the ongoing reform of the payroll and personnel cost management as it has only created ghost workers in the payroll who receive fraudulent and erroneous salaries but has also perpetuated nepotism and regional imbalance in the public service"
The circular warned that henceforth, recruitment by relevant MDAs must be "approved by the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF), with appropriate budgetary provisions to accommodate the proposed recruitment."
Also, it stated that "a letter of approval from the Federal Character Commission for the distribution of vacancies for the proposed recruitment must be obtained to ensure equitable distribution of vacancies". It added that such recruitment exercise must be monitored by officials of the OHCSF and Federal Civil Service Commission as the case may be.
Recall that recently, the some MDAs including the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) were accused of engaging in clandestine recruitment with some Civil Society Organizations protesting against the illegality.
