Contrary to the allegations in these publications, the Agency did not sack any staff. Rather, the management of the Agency only correctly nullified a questionable and hurriedly arranged recruitment that was marred by irregularities and lack of adherence to established procedures for recruitment into the Public Service.
Those claimed to have been sacked were candidates of that spurious exercise.
To set the records straight, NEMA wishes to make the following clarifications on the matter:
1. Although approval was obtained from the NEMA Governing Council for recruitment in 2018, there are other complementary and critical procedures that were not followed, which effectively invalidated the exercise. These include obtaining approval from the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation with regards to established vacancies and manpower budget.
2. The supervising ministry of NEMA, the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, was also completely excluded from the recruitment. The standard protocol dictates that the Ministry, which was created and assigned a supervisory role over the Agency in 2019, must be briefed and involved in such exercises.
3. On the allegation that salaries of the said candidates were unpaid for one year, it must be clearly restated that NEMA does not pay salaries of Public Servants.
For the avoidance of doubt, the confirmation of recruitment and payment of the salaries of a Public Servant on a continuous monthly basis follows established standards, to wit:
i. Due recruitment process in accordance with Public Service Rules.
ii. If successful, the candidate’s data is captured by the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.
iii. Next and on formal resumption of duties, the candidate’s payment transfer details are captured by IPPIS for regular payment of salaries and allowances.
To emphasize, the Federal Government of Nigeria will neither enroll nor pay the salaries of any candidates of a questionable recruitment that failed to follow this due process as was the case in the said 2019 exercise.
4. The roles of the Federal Character Commission (FCC), as stated in the publications, were intended to give credibility to the exercise. However, it must be noted that the participation of the FCC alone does not vitiate the responsibilities of the Supervising Ministry or the statutory roles of the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation – both of which were strangely excluded from participating in the recruitment exercise.
5. The publications also claimed credit for involvement of the Public Service Institute of Nigeria (PSIN) in the recruitment exercise. However, the involvement of the Institute is not a necessary condition in the recruitment process as enshrined in the Public Service Rules (PSR).
PSIN was only engaged by NEMA as a Consultant for the purpose of conducting examination for prospecting candidates. This does not substitute or obviate the roles of the Office of the Civil Service of the Federation or the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development as the Supervisory Ministry of NEMA in the recruitment exercise.
6. It is unfortunate that the affected candidates were issued Appointment Letters without exhausting the conditions enshrined in the Public Service Rules (PSR) and the Guidelines for Appointment. However, Public Service Rules are established to protect the interest of the Government as well as the employees. Therefore, they cannot be discountenanced.
In view of the foregoing, the public is advised to disregard the misleading publications that were orchestrated by people that attempted to circumvent Public Service Rules for their own gains.
Manzo Ezekiel
Head, Media and Public Relations NEMA
14th February 2021
Those claimed to have been sacked were candidates of that spurious exercise.
To set the records straight, NEMA wishes to make the following clarifications on the matter:
1. Although approval was obtained from the NEMA Governing Council for recruitment in 2018, there are other complementary and critical procedures that were not followed, which effectively invalidated the exercise. These include obtaining approval from the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation with regards to established vacancies and manpower budget.
2. The supervising ministry of NEMA, the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, was also completely excluded from the recruitment. The standard protocol dictates that the Ministry, which was created and assigned a supervisory role over the Agency in 2019, must be briefed and involved in such exercises.
3. On the allegation that salaries of the said candidates were unpaid for one year, it must be clearly restated that NEMA does not pay salaries of Public Servants.
For the avoidance of doubt, the confirmation of recruitment and payment of the salaries of a Public Servant on a continuous monthly basis follows established standards, to wit:
i. Due recruitment process in accordance with Public Service Rules.
ii. If successful, the candidate’s data is captured by the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.
iii. Next and on formal resumption of duties, the candidate’s payment transfer details are captured by IPPIS for regular payment of salaries and allowances.
To emphasize, the Federal Government of Nigeria will neither enroll nor pay the salaries of any candidates of a questionable recruitment that failed to follow this due process as was the case in the said 2019 exercise.
4. The roles of the Federal Character Commission (FCC), as stated in the publications, were intended to give credibility to the exercise. However, it must be noted that the participation of the FCC alone does not vitiate the responsibilities of the Supervising Ministry or the statutory roles of the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation – both of which were strangely excluded from participating in the recruitment exercise.
5. The publications also claimed credit for involvement of the Public Service Institute of Nigeria (PSIN) in the recruitment exercise. However, the involvement of the Institute is not a necessary condition in the recruitment process as enshrined in the Public Service Rules (PSR).
PSIN was only engaged by NEMA as a Consultant for the purpose of conducting examination for prospecting candidates. This does not substitute or obviate the roles of the Office of the Civil Service of the Federation or the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development as the Supervisory Ministry of NEMA in the recruitment exercise.
6. It is unfortunate that the affected candidates were issued Appointment Letters without exhausting the conditions enshrined in the Public Service Rules (PSR) and the Guidelines for Appointment. However, Public Service Rules are established to protect the interest of the Government as well as the employees. Therefore, they cannot be discountenanced.
In view of the foregoing, the public is advised to disregard the misleading publications that were orchestrated by people that attempted to circumvent Public Service Rules for their own gains.
Manzo Ezekiel
Head, Media and Public Relations NEMA
14th February 2021
We're they not aware when the actual recruitment was done?
ReplyDeleteAll the process were allowed to hold and art no point was the recruitment stopped, only to wait after one year to declare it illegal.
Wickedness in high places 😣
like dis like dis, some don lose close to half a million
ReplyDelete