The Senate through committee on Federal Character and Intergovernmental Affairs declared in Abuja on Tuesday that stiffer penalties against job racketeers ,shall be put in place soon.
Chairman of the committee, Senator Allwell Onyesoh (PDP Rivers East), stated this after a crucial meeting of the committee with chairperson and management of Federal Character Commission ( FCC).
Senator Onyesoh said Nigeria at this time is sitting on a keg of gun powder and people react to issues based on emotion and Nigerians have gotten to a point where they no longer look at issues deeply, but he has the social media way; you just cheat something, you move it on, copy and send to the next person. Nobody tries to clarify, no investigation any more.
“It is something that is very dangerous and it is easy to ignite a place. A simple statement like, oh, this thing is out we are not getting it. There is job there, they are employing secretly, is enough to cause problem.
“And the purview of FCC covers that. We felt it is proper to call them and we sit down, dot the ‘I’ and cross the ‘t’, make every of their activities more transparent, more glaringly clear for people to see. We want to open up the space,” he said.
He added that the essence of the Federal Character Commission (FCC) is to create unity, fairness and equity, adding that “you can’t have that if someone is feeling rejected, feeling not carried along.
“You must put some sanctions if you want things to work. We are considering stiffer penalties, there must be consequence for everything. This is one of the few committees that derives power from the constitution.”
Earlier, the executive chairperson of FCC, Dr. Muheeba Farida Dankaka, denied that there is job sale under her watch, adding that it happened in the past when “the place was like a market place.”