The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board, Isaq Oloyede, was questioned by the House of Representatives ad-hoc Committee investigating job racketeering by Ministries, Departments, and Agencies as well as improper management of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System IPPIS on Monday.
The agency must immediately provide the panel, which is led by Yusuf Gagdi, with a list of everyone employed between 2015 and 2023.
Gagdi charged JAMB with undervaluing the nation by denying Nigerians the chance to apply for positions when they were open.
According to the records made available to the investigation panel, he said that the hiring organization had simply filled job openings without following the proper procedures, such as shortlisting and interviewing applicants.
In order to hire new employees, the examination body, he continued, relied on waivers rather than follow the law’s prohibition against hiring more than 100 people annually.
He continued by saying that hiring around 300 people through a waiver contradicts the federal character principle and that waivers should only be given when an agency is on the verge of collapse.
Why do you think marketing would not have been more effective? You have the ability to screen applicants in order to hire superior workers for those positions. We are particularly concerned in stopping the fraud connected to exemptions, so that’s why I’m asking,” he said.
In response, Prof. Oloyede stated that the agency’s job recruiting process from 2015 to the present did not breach the federal character concept.
According to him, the appropriate agencies granted JAMB a dispensation to fill open positions, and throughout the time period under consideration, the board conducted five rounds of hiring.
We used the waiver because we felt it was warranted given the urgency of the situation and the nature of our work. We wouldn’t have been able to meet our needs for the 300 if we had advertised for them.
“I firmly believe that hiring new employees was essential at the time, and I assure you that we did not surcharge those who were qualified.”
He added that the majority of the exercise was carried out in conjunction with state governors and that the claimed uneven employment by the examination organization was due to the requirement to fill openings in the more than 40 offices nationally.
In his decision, Gagdi requested the agency to provide a tabular, state-by-state nominal roster of the staff members it hired from 2015 until 2023.
